Khurais massive oil field in the eastern region could hold the key to more oil productio. Under way at Khurais and two other smaller fields nearby is what the Kingdom calls the single largest expansion of oil production capacity in history. Saudi Aramco is spending $10 billion to build the infrastructure to pump 1.2 million barrels of oil per day by next June from the Khurais field and its two smaller neighbors. That alone would be more than the total individual production of OPEC members Qatar, Indonesia and Ecuador. The project forms the centerpiece of the Saudi plan to increase the total amount of oil it can produce to 12.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2009 - up from a little more than 11 million barrels per day now. In Madrid, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said on Monday the Kingdom stands ready to pump as much oil as its customers require, but supply for now is adequate. Saudi Arabia has already promised to pump 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, or 11 percent of the world's total, marking an increase in output of 550,000 bpd since May. “Supply is enough. The price is driven by many, many causes - most of which is speculation,” Naimi told Reuters. He was speaking on the day oil rose to a new record above $143 a barrel, driven higher by market fears of conflict between Israel and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program. Asked whether the Kingdom was prepared to raise supply, Naimi said: “I have said that many, many times ... we just had a big conference in Jeddah. We said whatever our customers need, we will provide.” But the Kingdom said financial speculators and the falling dollar are to blame for high oil prices, not a shortage of supply. Saudi Arabia said it could increase oil production capacity to 15 million barrels per day if needed in future years. The Kingdom estimates Khurais and the nearby smaller Abu Jifan and Mazalij fields hold a total of 27 billion barrels of oil encased in solid rock 5,000 feet underground. At present, Saudi Arabia's Ghawar field, with an estimated 70 billion barrels of remaining reserves, is the world's largest. But oil experts say Khurais, which was discovered in 1957, is geologically more difficult to tap. A a massive processing facility at the field with more than 150 wells will pump crude to the surface, where water and gas will be separated out. The oil then will be funneled to the country's east-west pipeline for delivery to ships in the Red Sea. Workers are also building a huge sea-water injection system to pump more than 2 million barrels of water per day from the Gulf into 120 wells. That will maintain the necessary pressure underground to push the oil to the surface. Aramco officials said Khurais project will be ready to produce 1.2 million barrels per day by next June. If all goes as scheduled, Aramco forecasts more than 50 billion barrels of fresh reserves from the giant fields by 2011. In Kuwait, meanwhile, amid Iranian threats to restrict navigation through the Gulf in case it was attacked by any “foreign” forces, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have reportedly been coordinating and discussing alternative plans to export oil in case of any emergency affecting the oil export supply routes, reported Al-Rai. The Iranian threat was delivered by the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Mohammed Ali Al-Jafari in an interview published in the Iranian government newspaper Jam-e Jam on Saturday. “It's natural enough that in defense of its existence, any state is entitled to use all possible means in case it is assaulted by alien and foreign troops,” he said, stating that Iran would impose its own restriction on navigation through the Hormuz Strait and the Gulf. Jafari also warned that in such an event, global oil exports would be negatively affected and consequently oil prices would increase even higher, which would not be favorable by the west. The report said, in coordination with its neighbors, Kuwait had made alternative plans in case of any emergency and that through many analysts and observers, Kuwait is closely monitoring oil supply routes and lines. The source also stressed that no instructions had been yet issued concerning the use of alternative plans.
