Aramco Increases Production in Offshore Fields

An Aramco employee walks near an oil tank at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. (File Photo: Reuters)
An Aramco employee walks near an oil tank at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. (File Photo: Reuters)
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Aramco Increases Production in Offshore Fields

An Aramco employee walks near an oil tank at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. (File Photo: Reuters)
An Aramco employee walks near an oil tank at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018. (File Photo: Reuters)

Saudi Aramco has pressed ahead with plans to increase production from offshore fields to maintain its capacity of producing 12 million bpd in the coming years.

The company has set a $300 billion budget for oil and gas projects in the next 10 years.

On Tuesday, Aramco said it awarded a contract to China Harbour Engineering Arabia for the construction of two drilling islands under the company’s Berri Increment Program (BIP).

The objective of the BIP is to produce an additional 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Arabian Light crude oil from the Berri Oil Field to reach 500,000 bpd to maintain Aramco’s maximum sustained capacity by early 2023.

Last week, Aramco awarded the first large-scope integrated services contract for its Marjan oilfield to GE’s Baker Hughes.

Baker Hughes will provide drilling services, coiled tubing services and drilling fluids engineering services in Marjan, which is the first of three major offshore expansions in Saudi Arabia, and the company’s largest upstream development project this year.

Aramco has announced in its annual report that it restored one of the units at Zuluf field, which had been shut down for 23 years. This would help the field maintain an 800,000 bpd production.

The annual report also indicated that Dammam field will begin producing 25,000 bpd in 2021, which will be increased to 75,000 in 2026.

On Tuesday, Aramco signed a contract with China Harbour Engineering in Dhahran.

The Program includes the installation of a new Gas Oil Separation Plant (GOSP) in Abu Ali Island and additional gas processing facilities at the Khursaniyah Gas Plant (KGP) to process 40,000 bpd of hydrocarbon condensate associated with the Berri Crude Increment. Related pipelines, water injection facilities, onshore drilling sites, drilling islands and offshore facilities are also included.

Under the contract, two drilling islands shall be constructed near shore at the north and south sides of the King Fahad Industrial Port (KFIP) causeway in Jubail, to support the Berri field production capacity islands.

The two drill sites referred to as Site A and Site B will have an approximate overall area of 616,553 square meters and 263,855 square meters respectively.

At least three North Asian buyers will receive extra supplies of Saudi oil after the kingdom cut its prices for most grades in October and as they look to cushion the impact on supply of US sanctions on Iran, sources told Reuters.

Buyers have asked to lift more Saudi oil than contracted volumes in October amid fears that the sanctions will crimp supply during peak winter demand in Asia, the sources said.

The sources, who preferred to remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak to the media, indicated that Aramco will supply more oil to the buyers in October, with one to receive more Arab Light crude.

Washington has asked buyers of Iranian oil to cut imports to zero in the run up to early November to force Tehran to negotiate a new nuclear agreement and to limit its influence in the Middle East.

Increase in Brent price has also made European and African oil more expensive for Asian refiners, while the US-China trade war has sharply reduced China’s oil imports from the United States.

However, last week, Aramco cut its official selling prices for most of the crude grades it sells to Asia in October, making Saudi oil competitive.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude oil exporter, and other producers from the Middle East and Russia have increased exports after a June meeting where they agreed to raise output by 1 million bpd. The rise in supply is to replace falling exports from Venezuela and Iran.



Trump Announces 30% Tariffs Against EU, Mexico to begin August 1

President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
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Trump Announces 30% Tariffs Against EU, Mexico to begin August 1

President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
President Donald J. Trump speaks at a roundtable discussion at the Community Emergency Operations Center in Kerrville, Texas, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he's levying tariffs of 30% against the European Union and Mexico.

Trump announced the tariffs on two of the United States' biggest trade partners in letters posted to his social media account.

In his letter to Mexico's leader, Trump acknowledged that the country has been helpful in stemming the flow of undocumented migrants and fentanyl into the United States. But he said the country has not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump added, The AP news reported.

Trump in his letter to the European Union said that the US trade deficit was a national security threat.

“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies, and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter to the EU. “Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”

Trump is in the midst of an announcement blitz of new tariffs with allies and foes alike, a bedrock of his 2024 campaign that he said would set the foundation for reviving a US economy that he claims has been ripped off by other nations for decades.

With the reciprocal tariffs, Trump is effectively blowing up the rules governing world trade. For decades, the United States and most other countries abided by tariff rates set through a series of complex negotiations known as the Uruguay round. Countries could set their own tariffs – but under the “most favored nation’’ approach, they couldn’t charge one country more than they charged another.

With Saturday's letters, Trump has now issued tariff conditions on 24 countries and the 27-member European Union.

The European Union’s chief trade negotiator said earlier this week that a trade deal to avert higher tariffs on European goods imported to the US could be reached “even in the coming days.” Maroš Šefčovič told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday that the EU had been spared the increased tariffs contained in the letters Trump sent on Monday, and that an extension of talks would provide “additional space to reach a satisfactory conclusion.”

The bloc collectively sells more to the US than any other country. US goods imports from the EU topped $553 billion in 2022, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Trump on April 2 proposed a 20% tariff for EU goods and then threatened to raise that to 50% after negotiations did not move as fast as he would have liked. Sefcovic did not mention any tariff figures.

The higher tariffs as well as any EU retaliation had been suspended as the two sides negotiate. However the base rate of 10% for most trade partners as well as higher rates of 25% on autos and 50% on steel and aluminum had gone into effect.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the center-right American Action Forum, said the letters were evidence that serious trade talks were not taking place over the past three months. He stressed that nations were instead talking amongst themselves about how to minimize their own exposure to the US economy and Trump.

“They’re spending time talking to each other about what the future is going to look like, and we’re left out,” Holtz-Eakin said.

He added that Trump was using the letters to demand attention, but, “In the end, these are letters to other countries about taxes he’s going to levy on his citizens.”