MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Saudi Arabia
Index
Pipelines usually provided the easiest and most efficient
means of transporting oil and gas products. Expansion of the
pipeline system was the major prerequisite for increased crude
oil production and exports, for use of associated and
nonassociated gas, and for increased refining and distribution of
products. Saudi Arabia had four major pipelines serving the
crucial transport needs of the country's hydrocarbon sector. In
the 1980s and early 1990s, pipeline construction and expansion
have been motivated by security concerns stemming from the two
major wars fought in the gulf rather than for economic reasons.
Therefore, development efforts have concentrated on moving crude
oil, products, and export terminals to the western part of the
country.
Two of the major crude oil pipelines crossing Saudi Arabia
have been shut down. The Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline), built
in the 1950s to export oil to the Lebanese port of Az Zahrani on
the Mediterranean Sea, ceased operations after the onset of the
Lebanese civil war in the 1970s. Whereas small quantities of oil
continued to be shipped to the Az Zarqa refinery in Jordan, this
operation was also terminated in September 1990 as a result of
Jordan's stance in the Persian Gulf War and its inability to meet
Saudi Arabia's payment terms. The second pipeline that has been
closed runs from the southern Iraqi border town of Az Zubayr to
Saudi export terminals on the Red Sea. The Iraqis built the
pipeline in two sections: the first, IPSA 1, was originally a
spur to Petroline, Saudi Arabia's main oil transport artery,
which allowed access to Petroline for further transport of Iraqi
crude oil on to Yanbu, the second, IPSA built to parallel
Petroline, ended at the export terminal at Ras al Muajjis near
Yanbu. This pipe, with capacity to transport more than 1.6
million bpd, opened in January 1990, but closed in August 1990
after the UN ordered an embargo on Iraqi exports. Moreover, the
pipeline's two pump stations in southern Iraq suffered heavy
damage during the Persian Gulf War.
Petroline runs from Abqaiq to Yanbu. Built in 1981 with the
capacity to move more than 1.8 million bpd of crude oil,
Petroline was expanded to handle 3.2 million bpd in 1987. The
expansion consisted of laying a new pipeline parallel to the
original. Further development plans call for additional capacity
to raise overall throughput to 4.5 million bpd. This project will
give Saudi Aramco greater flexibility to move different grades of
crude oil to its western export terminals. Security concerns have
largely motivated this expansion because the kingdom's foreign
customers have shown less enthusiasm for lifting crude oil from
the Red Sea port as a result of the higher cost of cargoes.
Consequently, the actual carriage from Petroline has averaged
only 1.5 million bpd. Saudi Arabia's other major pipeline is the
east-west NGL pipeline. This pipe runs from Shadqam to Yanbu,
again parallel to Petroline, and can transport 270,000 bpd of
NGL. Given the problems associated with the gas-gathering system,
original plans to expand the pipeline to 490,000 bpd were
shelved. Finally, a smaller pipeline, built in the 1940s, runs
from Saudi Aramco's facilities in the Eastern Province to the
refinery on Bahrain, transporting approximately 200,000 bpd of
crude oil.
The kingdom had three main export terminals for crude oil
with a number of smaller facilities closer to production units.
The export terminals at Ras Tanura on the Persian Gulf were the
largest in the world. Designed to export crude oil and LPG, the
facilities included two piers and one sea island with a total of
eighteen berths, which can accommodate ships of up to 550,000
deadweight tons (dwt). The facilities also included a tank farm
with total storage capacity of 33 million barrels. Also on the
Persian Gulf, thirty-three kilometers north of Ras Tanura, is the
port of Al Juaymah. Tankers of up to 700,000 dwt could be
accommodated at its six single-point moorings. Up to 4 million
bpd of crude oil could be exported from Al Juaymah. Two
additional berths were designed to export 200,000 cubic meters of
LPG. Tank farm storage facilities had a capacity of 17.5 million
barrels. The third Persian Gulf export terminal at Az Zuluf,
located sixty-four kilometers offshore, served the Az Zuluf and
Al Marjan fields with one single-point mooring.
AOC and Getty Oil operated two other Persian Gulf ports in
the Divided Zone. AOC had four berths with varying capabilities
located almost five and eleven kilometers offshore at Al Khafji.
Offshore facilities at Mina Saud, managed by Getty Oil, serviced
ships at shallower berths.
In 1981 Saudi Arabia opened the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Consisting of three offshore crude-oil berths, the port could
handle tankers up to 550,000 dwt. In the early 1990s, total crude
oil loading capacity stood at 2.6 million bpd with storage
facilities holding as much as 6 million barrels. LPG export
facilities included two berths that served ships with 200,000-
cubic-meter capacity. By the end of 1992, expansion plans called
for adding a fourth crude-oil berth that would increase the
port's overall loading capacity to 3.9 million bpd. Connected to
the IPSA 2 pipeline was the Red Sea port of Ras al Muajjis, south
of Yanbu. Farther south at Rabigh, Saudi Arabia was completing a
small port to serve the refinery. Nine berths capable of handling
ships up to 312,000 dwt were under construction in 1992.
Both Saudi Aramco and Samarec maintained a fleet of tankers
to export crude oil and products. In 1992 Saudi Arabia controlled
forty-three vessels with a combined displacement of 7 million
dwt. Vela Marine International, Saudi Aramco's shipping
subsidiary, had twenty-eight ships in its fleet, of which it
owned six and chartered the rest. Samarec's fleet consisted of
fifteen ships, including four small crude-oil tankers and eleven
clean-product tankers. Expansion plans in the early 1990s called
for Vela Marine International to acquire twenty-one additional
vessels at a projected cost of US$2 billion. In addition to the
six very large crude carriers (VLCCs), each with a capacity of
280,000 dwt under construction in the early 1990s, Vela planned
to add nine VLCCs and eight ultra-large crude carriers (ULCCs),
each with a capacity of 350,000 dwt. The expansion of the fleet
resulted from Saudi Aramco's desire to move as much as 70 percent
of its crude exports on its own tankers, thereby reducing
transport costs. Moreover, it sought marketing flexibility and
floating storage facilities so as to improve the market balance
of supply and demand.
Data as of December 1992
|
|