The first is an on-going project by SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian engineering firm, which has almost completed the first phase of a contract to boost output from the Shaybah oilfield by 50 per cent to 750,000 bpd.
The second Aramco project to face further delays is the Manifa offshore oilfield project that was awarded to Saipem, the Italian oilfield services group, last July to produce 900,000 bpd by 2011.
Aramco halted the work after oil prices collapsed last year, and on Friday it emerged that the delay will last another 12 to 18 months, according to Pietro Tali, CEO in comments made to Reuters on the sidelines of an oil conference in Paris.
The delays come after an OPEC agreement six months ago to cut production quotas in response to the downturn in global oil demand on the back of the economic crisis.
Author: Ksenia Kochneva