This refers to four fields whose maximum production volume currently stands at 2.75 million bpd. The largest of these fields is Safaniya, whose capacity is expected to rise from the current 1.2 million bpd to 1.9 million bpd by 2027. A significant increase in capacity is also expected to take place at the Berri (from 250,000 bpd to 500,000 bpd), Marjan (from 500,000 bpd to 800,000 bpd) and Zuluf (from 800,000 bpd to 1.4 million bpd) fields, which will complete their modernization in 2025–2026. As a result, the total capacity of these fields will reach 4.6 million bpd, which is commensurate with the volume of oil production in Iraq, the second-largest oil producer among OPEC countries.
The capacity expansion is expected to cause an increase in oil exports (subject to the easing of the terms of the OPEC+ deal), including through measures to reduce feedstock consumption in the domestic market. The production of oil (excluding condensate) in Saudi Arabia totaled 10.4 million bpd in 2022, with domestic demand at 3.6 million bpd. One of the industries that consume this feedstock is the power industry. Saudi Arabia is just about the only country in the world that uses both petroleum products and oil to generate electricity. According to the EIA, the daily average volume of oil combustion at Saudi Arabia’s power plants was 486,000 bpd in 2022, with fuel oil combustion at 608,000 bpd.
In order to reduce the use of oil and petroleum products in the power sector, Saudi Arabia is expanding its renewable energy capacity: in 2020, the country began building 12 solar power plants with a total capacity of 4.5 gigawatts (GW) and another wind power plant with a capacity of 400 megawatts (MW). The year 2022 saw nine more renewable energy projects totaling 9.9 GW announced. The implementation of these projects will increase the capacity of renewable energy facilities from the current 0.4 GW to almost 15 GW, with the share of renewables in the energy mix rising from less than 1% to more than 10%, taking into account the dependence of renewables on weather conditions.
