SINGAPORE – State energy giant Saudi Aramco has sold several cargoes of very light crude oil from its $100 billion Jafra gas plant to a major US company and an Indian refiner, four trade sources said, as it prepares to export its first cargo later this month.
The Jafra project is estimated to contain 229 trillion standard cubic feet of raw gas and 75 billion barrels of condensate, and is central to Aramco’s ambitions to increase gas production to become the world’s leading natural gas player and expand its offering of light crude oil grades.
U.S. giant Chevron has bought two Jafra condensate cargoes for loading later this month and in March, while Exxon Mobil Corp. and Indian Oil Corp. have bought cargoes scheduled for hoisting next month, the people said.
It added that the cargo was sold on a free-on-board basis at a premium of $2 to $3 per barrel over Dubai prices.
Possibly the first shipment destined for South Korea
Chevron’s first cargo is likely to go to South Korea’s joint venture refiner GS Caltex, while the second cargo could go to Thailand for Star Petroleum Refining, two people said.
Aramco, Exxon, IOC and SPRC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. GS Caltex has no comment at this time. Chevron declined to comment. Jafra could become the largest shale gas project outside the United States, and is expected to reach sustainable production of 2 billion cubic feet per day by 2030.
Aramco could export 500,000 barrels of Jafra condensate from the country’s eastern Yanbu port in four to six cargoes a month, sources told Reuters earlier.
Condensate is a non-gaseous liquid that can be processed in splitters to produce petrochemical feedstock naphtha and other refined products, or mixed with crude oil and distilled in refineries.
Preliminary crude oil analysis reviewed by Reuters shows Jafra condensate has an API gravity of 49.7 degrees and contains about 0.17% sulfur.
Analysis results showed that about 40% of the yield was the petrochemical raw material naphtha, which is mainly a heavy product, while the remaining production was mostly light oil and kerosene.
(Reporting by Florence Tan and Liu Shiyi in Singapore, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
