This Day in History (2004) Qatif mega-project: How we do business

From the Dec. 22, 2004, edition of The Arabian Sun

Saudi Aramco has reaffirmed its unique and internationally renowned capability to construct and operate mega-projects by bringing the expanded Qatif Producing Plants Project on line to produce hundreds of millions of additional barrels of crude annually.

The Qatif project, the largest crude increment built in recent times, adds 650,000 barrels per day to the 150,000 bpd already produced from the Abu Sa'fah field. At 800,000 bpd, Qatif becomes the world's largest crude production facility. In addition, it produces 370 million standard cubic feet per day of associated gas and 40,000 bpd of high-value condensate.

This massive project was commissioned and started production in August, three months ahead of schedule. It took 3 million man-hours to design and 70 million man-hours to construct.

Caption for top photo: At the peak of activity, more than 15,000 laborers, craftsmen, and professionals of various nationalities worked on the project at different work sites in and out of the Kingdom.

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