Ghawar

Ghawar is largest oil Gisement in the world. It is located in Saudi Arabia, to approximately 100 km of Dhahran. Ghawar extends on a surface from 280 km length and 30 km of width. The layer belongs entirely to Aramco.

This oil-bearing field was discovered in 1948 and entered in exploitation in 1951. It is only into 1955 that the parts north and south, counted before like separated layers, appear connected on the charts. The estimates drawn up before the Nationalization of Saoudi oil place the volume of oil present in the layer at 170 Gbbls, including 60 recoverable.

In the beginning, the field of Ghawar was divided into 5 zones: Ain Dar and Shedgum , Uthmaniyah , Hawiyah and Haradh , which corresponds to 5 dome S in the rock formation which acts as tank, and would have constituted as many different layers if the volume of oil which migrated there were not also enormous (thus if the contact system water-oil were higher). Large the Oasis of Al Hofuf is located on the side is layer, i.e. in the zone of Uthmaniyah .

The quality of oil varies slightly according to the zones. Ghawar provides light crude (of 32 with 34° API), but presenting a rather high content of Soufre (around 2 %). The various sectors of the layer are also distinguished in terms of conditions of tank (height of the oil column, permeability,…), which influences the extraction of oil - the zones north are much easier to exploit.

From 60 with 65 % of the production of Saudi Arabia of 1948 to 2000 came from Ghawar. In 2005, whereas the worldwide production rose with approximately 84 Mbbls /j, Ghawar produced more 5 Mbbls/j, is 6,25 % of the worldwide production. No other forever approximate layer such a value, well little (Cantarell, Burgan, Samotlor,…) ever the 2 exceeded; Mbbls/j.

Approximately 62 Gbbls were produced until the beginning of 2007. The estimate of the years 1960 was thus too low, but nobody knows up to what point. According to certain sources, as the analyst Matthew Simmons in his work Twilight in the Serves , the remaining reserves recoverable of Ghawar are weak and the layer will reach very soon the oil Pic.

Of dimensioned sound, Aramco, of which persons in charge such Nansen Saleri, highly criticized the comments of Matthew Simmons and indicated that Ghawar contained more 70 Gbbls of proven reserve. Many sources give producible final 100 Gbbls (what means that the layer would exhaust its 39 Gbbls of remaining reserves at intervals of more than 4% per annum), but it seems that it is a value symbolic system.

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