King begins EP visit; mega projects set to be launched

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman arrived in the Eastern Province from Riyadh on Wednesday evening.

During the visit, the King will meet citizens and launch several mega development projects, including those of Saudi Aramco and Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.

Upon arrival at King Abdulaziz Airbase in the Eastern Sector, the King was received by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior; Prince Saud Bin Naif, emir of the Eastern Province; Prince Turki Bin Bandar, commander of King Abdulaziz Airbase in the Eastern Sector; Prince Mishal Bin Badr Bin Saud, undersecretary at the National Guard in the Eastern Sector; Prince Badr Bin Muhammad Bin Jalawi, governor of Al-Ahsa region, several other princes, ministers, civilian and military officials and a group of citizens.

Earlier, several princes and senior civilian and military officials were present at King Salman Airbase in Riyadh to see him off.

The King was accompanied by Prince Muqrin, Prince Abdul Ilah, adviser to the King, Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah, minister of the National Guard, Mansour Bin Miteb, minister of state and member of the Cabinet, several other princes and high ranking officials.

Meanwhile, Prince Saud Bin Naif, emir of the Eastern Province, welcomed King Salman to the region.

“On behalf of the people of the region, I am honored to welcome the King on the auspicious occasion of his visit to the region in order to see in person the condition of the people and taking care of their small and big matters. The King will lay foundation stone and open several projects that have great benefit to the national economy and the Kingdom’s service sector,” he said, adding that these include housing, infrastructure, energy, and petrochemical projects.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, Prince Badr Bin Muhammad Bin Jalawi, governor of Al-Ahsa region, also welcomed the King’s visit to the region. “The King wants to meet citizens, know closely about their needs and aspirations, besides listening to their demands. The King will launch several development projects in the fields of housing, culture, and knowledge,” he said.

Prince Saud Bin Abdullah Bin Thunayyan, president of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, said that King Salman will launch some of the world’s largest mining projects in Raas Al-Khair and Jubail coming Tuesday.

Saudi Aramco will launch several mega oil and gas projects during the visit of the King. These include increasing the production capacity of Manifa field, the fifth largest oil field in the world, located offshore in the Arabian Gulf.

The Manifa Arabian heavy crude program is part of the development of the Saudi oilfields, which are expected to see an increase in production to over 12.5 million barrels a day from 11 million bpd. The project involves the development of the Manifa offshore oilfield and the construction and expansion of a new processing infrastructure to handle an additional 900,000bpd of Arabian heavy crude oil.

The second project is the Wasit Gas Plant. As a stand-alone gas plant, Wasit’s integrated facilities will process 2.5 billion scfd (standard cubic feet per day) of non-associated offshore gas. The fields are in about 50 km of water, 150 km northeast of Jubail.

The expansion of Saudi Aramco’s Khurais oil field is the third major project. The Khurais Arabian Light Crude Increment is an onshore oil field development. The fourth major project, to be launched during the royal visit, is the expansion of the Shaybah oil field in the Empty Quarter (Rubal Khali).

The King’s visit will also see the launching of the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, which is an extension of Saudi Aramco’s corporate vision and a continuation of its work to create a knowledge based society. It is regarded as a great donation from Saudi Aramco to the Saudi society, especially the youth.