Saudi Aramco officially commenced production at Jafurah, the Middle East's largest unconventional gas field. The oil behemoth started tapping the 17k sq km basin southeast of the Ghawar field in December, holding an estimated 229 tn standard cubic feet of raw gas.

Tanjib is also now active: The Tanajib gas plant is engineered to process 2.6 bn standard cubic feet per day of raw associated gas, specifically handling the output from Aramco’s Marjan and Zuluf offshore crude oil increments.

Jafurah and Tanjib form the backbone of Aramco’s aggressive mandate to increase its total sales gas production capacity by 80% by 2030, compared to 2021 levels.

Why it matters

Launching production from Jafurah is a step towards fundamental restructuring of the Kingdom's energy economics. Saudi has historically burned roughly 1 mn barrels of crude oil per day to meet domestic electricity generation and industrial power demand. Aramco wants to free up crude oil for the international export market by substituting domestic gas for crude in its power grid, capturing higher margins.

The upside: Aramco Upstream President Nasir Al Naimi told Reuters that the company is targeting “attractive double-digit returns as we set about unlocking significant volumes of high-value liquids and capitalize upon captive domestic gas demand.” The oil giant projects this expanded gas portfolio will generate between USD 12-15 bn in incremental operating cash flows by 2030.

Looking downstream

Jafurah’s output is also the foundational feedstock required to power the Kingdom's broader economic diversification, supporting planned downstream petrochemical complexes and the energy-intensive data centers required for regional AI infrastructure.

The downstream strategy: The field is engineered to yield 420 mn scfd of ethane and approximately 630k bpd of high-value natural gas liquids (NGLs) and condensates by the end of the decade. Petrochemical companies across the Gulf will have visibility on an expanded, highly localized supply of ethane — the essential building block for plastics and specialized chemicals.

The reality check

While Aramco’s early well performance is strong according to Al Naimi, industry analysts who spoke to Reuters have raised questions about the pace of the ramp-up required to hit the 2030 target of 2 bn scfd.

Why? Extracting unconventional gas in a harsh desert environment requires bespoke, capital-intensive technology — from seawater treatment for underground injection to ultra-strong diamond drill bits — mirroring the operational hurdles of the early U.S. shale boom but at a higher baseline cost.

Looking ahead: Despite ramp-up scrutiny, the macroeconomic impact is already being baked into forecasts. The Jafurah output could add up to 0.3% to Saudi GDP growth in 2026 alone, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Monica Malik told the newswire.

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