Gulf oil production to surge by 2015

CRUDE BOOST: The Gulf could deliver an extra 10 million barrels of crude oil per day by 2015. (Getty Images)

The Gulf could deliver an extra 10 million barrels of crude oil per day by 2015, with investment of almost $300 billion in boosting oil production currently underway, new research says.

Emil Rademeyer, director of Dubai-based project research firm Proleads, said in a statement on Sunday that more than half of the added capacity would come from Saudi Arabia alone.

"Recent analysis of total global oil production and development projects shows that world crude production capacity from all sources has the potential to rise from the current 87 million barrels per day to as much as 108 million by 2015.

"Our analysis shows that if all current projects across the region meet their projected targets in barrels of oil a day, it would mean that by 2015 the hydrocarbon-rich countries of the GCC will be supplying more than half of that future added oil capacity of 21 million barrels," Rademeyer said.

Across the GCC, Proleads is tracking nearly 300 active upstream oil projects with a combined value of almost $300 billion.

“Within the GCC countries of Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE approved upstream oil projects designed to either maintain or increase production capacity have soared in value from below $1.5 billion in 2006 to a 2008 peak of $30 billion.”

"Saudi Arabia, with one-fifth of the world's proven oil reserves and some of the lowest production costs has an aggressive energy sector investment initiative. Saudi would contribute more than half the 10 million barrels a day in added capacity if all projects deliver on target by 2015," Rademeyer added.

Between this year and 2009 alone, Saudi Arabia has put in place projects with target added production capacity of more than 1.6 million barrels a day.

By 2010, Qatar - richer in gas than oil - is targeting an increase of 1.4 million barrels a day in added production capacity. Projects approved in the United Arab Emirates indicate added oil production capacity of almost 1.9 million barrels a day by 2013.

Current approved projects in Kuwait indicate an increase in capacity of around one million barrels a day by 2011 but this does not take account of expected developments in the country's northern fields which have yet to be approved.

Oman, where fields have been depleting, hopes to achieve added capacity of around 460,000 barrels a day by 2012. Bahrain, where oil production has peaked, expects to only increase capacity by 35,000 barrels a day by 2015.

Meanwhile, global economic uncertainty could see a decrease in the use of energy, he added.

"These concerns are shared by some within Opec who think that future demand for oil may not be strong enough to justify the huge investment in boosting production.”

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