Saudi Aramco to invest $40 billion a year for the next decade

Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil producer, plans to invest $40 billion a year over the next decade to keep oil production capacity steady and double gas production.

Khalid Al-Falih, Aramco’s chief executive sees more capital going into offshore projects and expects rising costs across the oil sector to underpin oil prices.

“To meet forecast demand growth and offset decline, our industry will need to add close to 40 million barrels per day of new capacity in the next two decades,” Al-Falih said.

“Although our investments will span the value chain, the bulk will be in upstream, and increasingly from offshore, with the aim of maintaining our maximum sustained oil production capacity at twelve million barrels per day, while also doubling our gas production.”

Al-Falih said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or the International Energy Agency should not try to control oil prices but fundamental problems within the industry, like rising costs, increasing technical challenges and the falling size of finds would support the price.