Demand on natural gas in Saudi Arabia is predicted to grow more than oil where it will be growing by a rate of 8.6 percent during 2012-2020, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report said. The Kingdom will, therefore, focus on the expansion of natural gas projects to meet the growing demand on gas for electric generation and industrial expansion, it added. It further said Saudi Arabia has the highest rate of world energy consumption per capita, but it also retains more than fifth of world oil reserves, and is expected to continue to occupy the first position globally as an exporter of oil between 2012-2020 due to its production capacity by more than 12 million barrels per day. Against this backdrop, industry analysts said the Kingdom is implementing energy projects worth SR140 billion during the current year, making it the leading country in the Middle East and North Africa with largest energy projects. Global Energy said in a study that the Kingdom's high financial solvency has enabled it to go ahead with planning huge oil projects and exploit oil revenues for development and industrial diversification, which will be positively reflected in its sustainable development. Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco raised differentials used to determine official selling prices for June shipments from Egypt's Sidi Kerir port on the Mediterranean Sea, two people familiar with the pricing decision said. Aramco said Saturday it was raising differentials used to determine the June prices for all grades to be shipped to customers in the US, northwest Europe and the Mediterranean and cutting those to Asia. Aramco narrowed the discount on its Arab Light crude by 75 cents a barrel, to $1.75 less than the Brent weighted average posted by Intercontinental Exchange Inc., according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn't public. Arab Extra Light was set at a 65 cent premium to the benchmark, a 20 cent increase from the May price formula.
