JEDDAH: A joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it had begun a second phase of planned gas exploration during which it plans to drill three wells in the Rub Al Khali area after completing its first exploration period, the company said Monday. South Rub Al-Khali Co., or SRAK, as the venture is known, also plans to submit an appraisal plan to the government for the Kidan area of Saudi Arabia, it said in a statement. Kidan lies near the Saudi border with the United Arab Emirates. SRAK said it achieved “good” results from the seven wells it drilled over the past three years in the Rub Al Khali area. The three new wells will be part of the company's second exploration period, which started on July 26. SRAK is one of four ventures exploring for natural gas in Saudi Arabia, which holds the fifth-largest gas reserves in the world. Chevron Corp., the second-largest US energy company, said it will soon start looking for gas near the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. In a rare opening for international firms, Saudi Aramco in 2003-2004, set up four consortiums to drill in the vast desert in Saudi Arabia's southeast, but so far they have failed to find the volumes of gas needed to fuel Saudi economic growth. The world's largest oil exporter has shifted focus to developing gas production to meet rising domestic demand after completing a massive programme to expand its crude oil production capacity last year. “During the second exploration period, three wells are planned to be drilled in this area, in addition to the acquisition of about 3,600 square km of 3D seismic data and 3,000 km of 2D seismic data,” Srak said. This is below the seven wells that the company drilled in the first exploration phase, which it finished on July 25 after receiving an 18-month extension. The first phase also included acquisition of approximately 25,000 km of 2D seismic data and 750 square km of 3D seismic data. Srak has made discoveries in Saudi Arabia. Last year, it said gas from two zones under exploration in the region flowed at a combined rate of 90 million cubic feet per day. The company also said Monday that it would submit an appraisal plan to the Saudi government for the Kidan area, which is located in the empty quarter. Separately, PetroRabigh said it has restarted its 400,000 barrel per day oil refinery after an electrical outage halted operations. The Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company said that it was working on restarting the other units at its petrochemical plant after an electrical outage on Saturday forced a shutdown at the complex. The company, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, says operations at the refinery resumed early Monday morning.
