Khurais. It is the best of fields. It is the worst of fields. It is another chip off the old block, destined to prolong Saudi Arabia's dominance as an oil producer. It is a chink in the armor of the Saudi Oil Miracle, a symbol of a lesser future. Do tell, which is it? Amidst a lot of speculation, there are a few knowns. The Khurais Megaproject is the largest integrated development project in Saudi Aramco history. Slated for completion at the end of 2009, it includes the expansion of oil production in the Khurais, Abu Jifan, and Mazalij fields. These fields lie approximately midway between Riyadh and the Ghawar oil field, and sea water for injection will be piped in from the Arabian Gulf near Dharahan. The completed project is stated to have a capacity of 1.2 million barrels of oil per day. This article will present an early look at the Khurais development using satellite images and a review the scant data available for Khurais in an attempt to assess its prospects in light of much skepticism.

In recent posts I have talked about the major oilfield in Saudi Arabia that is closest to exhaustion. Perhaps it is now time to move to their oilfield of the future. Khurais. As we look to where the oil is going to come from tomorrow, there have been only very few places where production levels above 1 mbd have been projected. In fact a quick skim through Chris Skrebowski's Megaproject list (pdf file) shows that production of this level is going to get rather scarce. Counting only production above quarter of a million bd, in 2006 he has Haradh coming on line at 300,000 bd (it is), and the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) Phase 2 coming on stream in Azerbaijan at 300,000 bd. In 2007 there will be the Abu Hadriyah, Khursaniyah. Fadhili complex in KSA at 500,000 bd; The Khursaniyah NGL's at 300,000 bd; and another 300,000 bd from the ACG project. In 2008 there will be the Hawiyah NGL's at 370,000 bd; the Shaybah phase 2 at 300,000 bd or more; and Kashagan at 450,000 bd from Kazakhstan. In 2009 there will be Khurais at 1,200,000 bd. In 2010 there will be the Al-Shaheen expansion in Qatar at 300,000 bd; the combined Kushk-Hosseineh field in Iran at 300,000 bd; the Kuwaiti expansion at 450,000 bd; and the Kashagan Phase 2 at 450,000 bd. Looking further out there is Kashagan Phase 3 (300,000 bd), and Manifa (700,000 bd in total).

In terms of major developments Khurais stands out as being considerably bigger than the rest.