Saudi gas drive goes unconventional

Aramco’s gas development is stepping up a gear after several false starts

Saudi Arabia's need to find fresh domestic gas sources came to global attention as long as two decades ago, when majors were offered a unique opportunity to establish a direct presence on the kingdom's hallowed soil to search for the resource in the barren Empty Quarter. The much-hyped ‘Gas Initiative’ ended, though, in failure.  Claims eight years ago that newly discovered reserves off the Red Sea coast had the potential to solve the looming gas supply crunch proved equally unfounded. Undeterred, state oil behemoth Saudi Aramco is now pinning a declared ambition to more than double overall gas production heavily on the complex and costly development of unconventional reserves.  The firm ann