Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, is embracing changes in an evolving global energy landscape. It is preparing for a future where demand for its key commodity is set to peak and its dominance is challenged by newer sources of energy.
State-run Saudi Aramco invited a group of journalists in February to explore one of its most significant and evolving assets: the Khurais oil field.
Khurais substations seen in the distance. Photo by Jennifer Gnana.
Khurais was discovered in 1957, following the 1948 discovery of the Ghawar field, which inspired the kingdom's search for huge inland reserves. Ghawar is the world's largest conventional oil field with an estimated production capacity of around 3.8 million b/d.
Spanning 2,890 sq km, Khurais is the second-largest oil field in Saudi Arabia and the fourth largest in the world. Despite being more than half a century old, industry veterans see Khurais as a relatively newer field with much potential yet to be tapped.
Khurais has a production capacity of 1.5 million b/d of oil and currently produces 1.1 million b/d, according to Saudi Aramco's field operations manager Salah al-Juaidan. He did not comment on the volumes of gas from the field, which feeds into the 1,108.8 MW Shedgum power plant located in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.
Enhancing sustainability through automation
Khurais symbolizes a new form of oil production in Saudi Arabia. It is considered an "intelligent field"-- equipped with robotics and uses AI to plan maintenance with some algorithms being able to analyze satellite imagery to detect oil spills and potential hazards. Efforts are being undertaken to improve sustainability, including the elimination of flaring.
Drones are used to scan the area for operational inefficiencies and to check for fugitive methane leaks. Methane, a byproduct of oil and gas operations, is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming, according to the EU.
The field visit to Khurais came a few weeks after Saudi Arabia said it would cancel a long-standing plan to raise its maximum sustainable production capacity to 13 million b/d from the current 12 million b/d.
Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the cancellation was in line with the kingdom's efforts to embrace energy transition and diversify its energy mix.
The cancellation also followed the global stocktake at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference in December 2023, where countries including Saudi Arabia agreed to "transition away" from the fossil fuels.
Carbon intensity of crude
During the Khurais visit, Aramco engineers were keen to show how the company, which produces all of Saudi Arabia's crude, is looking to the future.
The carbon intensity of the crude produced at Khurais is 3.28 kg CO2e/boe, according to Saudi Aramco. This is significantly lower than the overall 10.3 kg CO2e/boe Aramco assessed for its overall crude production.
The Khurais oil field has a medium-carbon intensity of 20 kg CO2/boe, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights' assessments. S&P Global methodology for assessment takes into account greenhouse gas emissions in the lifecycle of the crude from production to storage.
The Arab Light blend, from the Ghawar, Khurais and Abu Hadriya fields, "has drastically reduced flaring through high domestic natural gas consumption across all economic sectors as part of its low carbon plan to reach zero flaring by 2030," S&P Global said.
Further reading: Chasing the lowest-carbon crudes
The move to qualify fields and grades based on carbon intensity comes amid a growing awareness of the environmental impact of oil production and consumption. Crude is now weighed carefully in energy mixes against cleaner fuels, such as gas, solar and wind energy -- which are increasingly taking a bigger share. Saudi Arabia is also moving away from oil burn in power generation as it looks to allocate more crude for export.
Getting fields like Khurais to lower associated emissions, comes amid a push from Saudi Aramco to promote crude grades that are seen as environmentally sustainable and soften backlash from activists and agencies advocating for lower-carbon fuel.
Saudi Aramco to promote crude grades that are seen as environmentally sustainable and soften backlash from activists and agencies advocating for lower-carbon fuel.
Energy security
Khurais is a testament to Saudi Arabia's continued reliability as a producer amid growing volumes from non-OPEC crude producers and increasing geopolitical insecurity across critical chokepoints in the Red Sea.
The oil field's substations came under attack from Houthi militants in September 2019. Along with a targeted attack on the Abqaiq oil facilities, Saudi Arabia's output was temporarily halved by the shutdown.
Saudi Arabia managed to ramp up its supply soon after and its facilities have remained on high alert. The latest wave of Houthi attacks has targeted tankers in the Red Sea, with no strikes so far on energy infrastructure.
But with heightened conflict in the area, Saudi Aramco is not taking chances. A set of drones fly over the vast Khurais field, scanning for threats and ensuring 1.1 million b/d of oil securely find their way to global markets.