Gas production from Jafurah is an inflexion point for Saudi Arabia
19 January 2026
Commentary
Indrajit Sen
Oil & gas editor
Aramco starting gas production from the massive Jafurah unconventional resource base in December was a watershed moment for Saudi Arabia in its journey towards self-sufficiency in meeting burgeoning demand for natural gas from the kingdom’s industrial and household sectors.
For Aramco, bringing the greenfield Jafurah gas processing plant online, with a production capacity of 450 million cubic feet a day (cf/d), is a significant leap forward in its quest to increase gas production and processing capacity by 80% by 2030, using 2021 as the baseline.
Aramco had earlier stated it expected to start gas production at Jafurah in 2025, with the intention of progressively ramping up to 2 billion cf/d of sales gas, 420 million cf/d of ethane, and 630,000 barrels a day (b/d) of high-value liquids by 2030. The Saudi energy giant’s unconventional gas programme at peak production is expected to generate electricity equivalent to displacing 500,000 b/d of oil.
Located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the Jafurah basin is the largest liquid-rich shale gas play in the Middle East, spanning approximately 17,000 square kilometres. The reserve is estimated to contain 229 trillion cubic feet of gas and 75 billion stock-tank barrels of condensate.
The gas processing plant commissioned in December represents the first phase of a mammoth $100bn capital expenditure programme that Riyadh has tasked Aramco with delivering to produce gas from the sprawling unconventional resource base.
Aramco has moved swiftly through the subsequent expansion phases of the Jafurah gas development programme since receiving budget approval from Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in February 2020.
Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on the second and third Jafurah expansion phases are at an advanced stage of execution. Aramco awarded 16 contracts, worth a combined total of about $12.4bn, for the second expansion phase in June 2024.
The selection of contractors for the third expansion phase of the Jafurah development came within weeks of Aramco officially awarding EPC contracts for the second expansion phase. A consortium of Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas and China’s Sinopec Group won the EPC contract for the third expansion phase, estimated to be worth $2.24bn, in July 2024.
Looking ahead, Aramco is expected to award the main EPC contract for the fourth Jafurah expansion phase in the first quarter of this year, although the tendering exercise for the project has faced delays.
Meanwhile, the bid evaluation process for the fourth expansion phase is under way as Aramco prepares to issue the main tender for EPC works on the fifth phase of the programme, having already completed the solicitation-of-interest process with contractors in November.
In addition to progressing the successive expansion phases of the Jafurah gas development programme, Aramco also took a key step to financially de-risk the multi-phase scheme in late October by completing an $11bn lease-and-leaseback deal for gas processing facilities at the Jafurah field with a consortium led by funds managed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), part of US asset manager BlackRock.
With strategic targets set and the backing of the Saudi government, Aramco is moving at pace and scale to unlock the enormous potential of the Jafurah unconventional gas reservoir and secure the kingdom’s economic future.
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