An expert on the economics of the energy industry has said he expects Saudi Arabias production of natural gas to increase to 13 billion cubic feet by 2020.

OMV has announced two new gas condensate discoveries in Tunisia, a result which it said bodes well for future exploration and production in the area.

Intensified exploration and new recovery technology will boost Saudi Arabia’s gas production by more than 50 per cent in 2020, according to its state oil operator, Saudi Aramco. Huge exploration and drilling programme investment have already created a huge increase in the kingdom’s natural gas reserves to nearly 275 trillion cubic feet (tcf) at the end of 2009, up from around 181 tcf in 1990, figures from Saudi Aramcos recently released 2009 report show. New discoveries and higher recovery rates have also raised the country’s non-associated gas deposits to more than half of total gas resources at the end of last year compared to about 25 per cent in 1990.

GE OIL & Gas’ PII Pipeline Solutions business has been awarded a multi-million dollar, six-year contract to supply Qatargas Operating Company Limited (Qatargas) with advanced pipeline integrity management services to enhance the monitoring and maintenance of the company’s liquid natural gas (LNG) network.

Based in Ras Laffan City in the State of Qatar, Qatargas has nine prominent shareholders – Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil,Total, Mitsui, Marubeni, ConocoPhilips, Shell, Idemitsu and Cosmo Oil.