Saudi state-controlled Aramco has begun to commission the first phase of its giant Jafurah natural gas project, but is yet to begin full commercial operations, according to the company's executive vice president of gas Abdulkarim Al-Ghamdi. This contradicts an earlier statement from the country's finance ministry.
"Jafurah… we started the commissioning last week," Al-Ghamdi told the Middle East Gas Conference in Dubai on Wednesday. "And that will be commissioned fully now, for production, before year-end." The phase is "on schedule" and "in advanced commissioning", he said.
Al-Ghamdi's comments are the first from Aramco since the Saudi finance ministry said production at Jafurah had begun. In its 2026 budget released last week the ministry listed "completion of the first phase of the Jafurah gas plant construction and commencement of production with a capacity of 450mn ft³/d," as one of the country's achievements for 2025. It did not specify a date for the start.
Aramco did not make its own start-up announcement, something it would typically do for a project of its size and importance, and Al-Ghamdi's comments suggest it is because the start-up has not yet have happened. A source close to the project said a formal Aramco announcement regarding Jafurah is likely "soon" ꟷ probably before the end of the year when commissioning is complete, as per Al-Ghamdi's comments.
With in-place reserves of 229 trillion ft³ (6.87 trillion m³) of raw gas and 75bn bl of condensate, Jafurah is the largest unconventional gas field in the Mideast Gulf, and constitutes a major pillar of Aramco's ambitious gas expansion plans.
The 450mn ft³/d rate referenced by the ministry was also 2½ times the rate at which Aramco had long been saying output would begin. Aramco's plan has long been to begin producing from phase 1 at a rate of 200mn ft³/d, rising to 650mn ft³/d by the end of 2026. A second phase, which is scheduled to come on stream in 2027, would then gradually lift production to 2bn ft³/d by the end of the decade.
It constitutes part of an ambitious Aramco programme to expand gas production by more than 80pc by the end of the decade, relative to a 2021 baseline of 9.2bn ft³/d. This implies output of at least 16.6bn ft³/d by 2030, with Jafurah delivering just over one-quarter of the increase.
Jafurah will also produce about 420mn ft³/d of ethane, and 630,000 b/d of NGLs and condensate as by-products by 2030.
Traders told Argus last week that Aramco has offered spot Jafurah condensate for loading in February. Market sources say Jafurah condensate has an API gravity of 49.75° and sulphur content of 0.16pc.
The ethane and NGLs will be sent to the Riyas fractionation plant, which is being built as part of the phase two development. The condensate will be sent to the Juaymah terminal, where Aramco is expanding its storage and export facilities.
