Saudi Aramco has signed four engineering contracts to build its SAR50bn ($13.3bn) Fadhili gas processing project.

The project is aimed at expanding the company’s gas production and supply with clean-burning natural gas to meet growing domestic demand for energy.

The contracts have also been signed with Larsen & Tubro for Fadhili offshore facilities, Saudi KAD for Fadhili downstream, Saudi Electric and Engie for the Fadhili combine heat and power (CHP), and Mohammed I. Al Subeae & Sons Investment for the Fadhili residential camp.

Fadhili is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019 and will process gas from both onshore and offshore fields.

Together with Saudi Aramco’s two other new major gas projects Wasit and Midyan, the new project will add more than five billion standard cubic feet per day (SCFD) of non-associated gas processing capacity.

The plant is expected to create 4,500 jobs for Saudis between professional training and permanent and temporary jobs.

Saudi Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser said: “Saudi Aramco’s multi-billion dollar investment in Fadhili will considerably increase the share of gas in the Kingdom’s energy mix and fits in with our long-term strategy to lower emissions.

“The increased gas production will mean more feedstock for industries to expand, and new ones to emerge that will help drive job creation, a key objective of Saudi Vision 2030.”

"The increased gas production will mean more feedstock for industries to expand, and new ones to emerge that will help drive job creation."

Fadhili has been designed for maximum sulfur recovery of 99.9% and will process a total of 2.5 billion SCFD of non-associated gas.

This will include two billion SCFD of Hasbah offshore gas and 500 million SCFD of Khursaniyah onshore gas.

The project is expected to produce 1.5 billion SCFD of sales gas, 4,000t per day of Sulphur. In addition, it will supply 470 million SCFD of gas to an adjacent cogeneration power plant, which will provide power and steam to Fadhili.

Fadhili will also have a helium recovery plant and a CO2 recovery unit to reduce emissions.

Image: Larsen & Tubro for Fadhili Offshore Facilities contract signing. Photo: courtesy of Saudi Arabian Oil Co.