By Florence Tan and Siyi Liu
SINGAPORE, Feb 23 (Reuters) – State energy major Saudi Aramco has sold several cargoes of ultra light crude oil from its $100 billion Jafurah gas plant to U.S. majors and an Indian refiner as it prepares to export its first cargo later this month, four trade sources said.
The Jafurah project, estimated to contain 229 trillion standard cubic feet of raw gas and 75 billion barrels of condensate, is central to Aramco’s ambitions to boost its gas output to become a major global natural gas player and to expand its offerings of light crude grades.
U.S. major Chevron has bought two Jafurah condensate cargoes for loading later this month and in March while Exxon Mobil Corp and Indian Oil Corp purchased cargoes to be lifted next month, the sources said.
The cargoes were sold at premiums of $2 to $3 a barrel to Dubai quotes on free-on-board basis, they added.
FIRST CARGO LIKELY FOR SOUTH KOREA
Chevron’s first cargo is likely to go to its South Korean joint-venture refiner GS Caltex while the second could head to Thailand for Star Petroleum Refining, two of the sources said.
Saudi Aramco said it is working closely with the Ministry of Energy to safely ramp up production in line with approved development plans and market needs.
Aramco does not comment on market speculation or on specific cargoes, customers or commercial arrangements, it added.
Chevron declined to comment. Exxon, IOC and SPRC did not immediately respond to requests for comments. GS Caltex did not have an immediate comment.
BIGGEST SHALE PROJECT OUTSIDE US
Jafurah is potentially the biggest shale gas project outside the U.S. and is expected to reach sustainable production of 2 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.
Aramco could export four to six 500,000-barrel cargoes of Jafurah condensate per month from the country’s eastern port of Yanbu, a source told Reuters earlier.
Condensate is a non-gas liquid that can be processed at splitters to produce petrochemical feedstock naphtha and other refined products, or can be blended with crude to be distilled at refineries.
The Jafurah condensate has an API gravity of 49.7 degrees and contains about 0.17% sulphur, according to a preliminary crude assay reviewed by Reuters.
About 40% of its yield is petrochemical feedstock naphtha, mainly the heavier grade, while most of the rest of the output is gasoil and kerosene, the assay showed.
(Reporting by Florence Tan and Liu Siyi in Singapore, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Louise Heavens.)
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