The Khurais Project has the Highest Recoverable Oil and Gas Reserves among the 100 Major Upstream Development Projects Globally, According to the New Study on ASDReports

Friday 3 October 2014, Amsterdam

The Khurais project, located in Saudi Arabia, has the highest recoverable reserves among the 100 major upstream development projects included in the report. The project involves recoverable oil and gas reserves of about 19.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (billion boe). Manifa and Rovuma Area 1, located in Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively, jointly occupy second position with recoverable reserves of 13.7 billion boe each. Rovuma Area 4, also located in Mozambique, has the next highest remaining recoverable reserves, at 12.7 billion boe. 

The following table provides details of the five largest upstream projects in terms of combined crude oil and natural gas recoverable reserves.


 These five development projects together account for around 77.5 billion boe of crude oil and natural gas recoverable reserves, and represent over 40% of the total recoverable reserves of the 100 projects under review in this report.  Among the five largest projects, the Rovuma Area 1, the Rovuma Area 4 and Bovanenkovo Zone are natural gas fields, while Khurais and the Manifa are primarily crude oil fields.  

The Kashagan Project Involves the Largest Capital Expenditure among the Major Upstream Development Projects Globally
Among the 100 major upstream development projects considered in this report, Kashagan has the highest capital expenditure (capex) at US$149.5 billion, followed by the Cantarell and Lula projects at US$69.4 billion and US$61.7 billion respectively.

The following table provides details of the top five upstream development projects, based on the capex involved. 


 The capex of the top 100 assets varies widely, ranging from the Kashagan field with the highest at US$149.5 billion, to the La Creciente field with the lowest at US$320 million. Among the major upstream development projects considered in this report, six have capex of US$50 billion or more, 11 have capex in the range of US$21–49 billion, 18 are in the range of US$11–20 billion, and 22 are in the range of US$5–10 billion.

Petrobras Operates the Largest Number of Projects among the Major Upstream Developments  
Among the 100 major upstream development projects worldwide considered in this study, Petrobras operates the most, with eight development projects, followed by Chevron and BP at six and five respectively. Of the eight Petrobras-operated assets, six are located in Brazil’s Santos and Campos basins – Lula, Franco, Roncador, Cernambi, Jubarte and Marlim Sul – and two are located in Bolivia – Sabalo and San Alberto. 

Saudi Aramco operates the projects with the greatest total remaining oil and gas recoverable reserves, at 39.9 billion boe. The company operates some giant projects such as Khurais with reserves of 19.4 billion boe, Manifa with reserves of 13.7 billion boe, Al-Wasit with reserves of around 4 billion boe, and Karan with reserves of 2.9 billion boe. Petrobras and Anadarko occupy second and third places, with operatorship of reserves of 17.4 billion boe and 13.7 billion boe respectively.