Saudi Aramco gets directive to keep maximum sustained crude capacity at 12 mil b/d

Saudi Arabian state-run oil giant Aramco was directed by the country's energy ministry to maintain its maximum sustainable crude capacity at 12 million b/d, and not to continue increasing it to 13 million b/d.

The company will update its capital spending guidance when its full-year 2023 results are announced in March, Aramco said in a Jan. 30 statement to the Saudi stock exchange.

Saudi Arabia's energy ministry in 2019 announced plans to boost the country's production capacity to 13 million b/d by 2027, from 12 million b/d. Aramco holds the exclusive concession to produce crude within the kingdom's borders.

Under the concession agreement, it was the government's decision to raise the maximum sustained capacity and production target, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said in a July interview.

"So this is always in the hand of the government. The government can tell you to increase, can tell you whatever'' through the Ministry of Energy, he said. "They will decide the maximum sustained capacity and they will decide the production target."

Developments at the offshore Marjan, Berri and Zuluf fields were underway, he said at the time.

During an earnings call last March, Nasser told analysts that Marjan would add 300,000 b/d of capacity and Berri 250,000 b/d by 2025, while a planned 600,000 b/d boost at Zuluf was in "engineering phase" with the project set to come online by 2026.

Works at the Dammam field, expected to add 25,000 b/d in 2024 and 50,000 b/d in 2027, were also underway, he said at the time.