Saudi Aramco committed to meeting future oil demand: energy minister

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi state oil giant Saudi Aramco remains committed to meeting future oil demand through continued investments, the kingdom's Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih said in a company report on Friday.

Aramco, which is slated for a public share sale, "continued to prepare itself for the listing of its shares, a landmark event the company and its board anticipate with excitement," Al Falih, who is also chairman of Saudi Aramco, said.

Despite an improved market picture, the oil industry's preparedness for the future remained in question as the sector had lost an estimate $1 trillion in planned investments since the start of the market downturn, Al Falih wrote.

"Significant new investments are required in additional capacity and expended and upgraded infrastructure, as well as the development of pioneering technology to make petroleum energy more sustainable and accessible," he said.

The company discovered two new oil fields, Sakab and Zumul, and a gas reservoir in the Sahba field, Aramco said in the report.

Aramco said "it will maintain its position as the world's leading crude oil producer by production volume by tempering production from mature fields, accelerating younger fields and secondary reservoirs, and developing fresh reserves from new increments."

The world's top oil exporter is boosting its output of the natural gas needed to meet rapidly rising domestic power demand and supply raw materials to its strategically important petrochemical industry.

In gas, Aramco "commenced projects to expand production and processing capacity, and brought online the first unconventional gas in Saudi Arabia," Aramco's Chief Executive Amin Nasser said in the report.

Aramco was preparing the Midyan non-associated gas field last year to produce 75 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of non-associated gas and 4,500 barrels of condensate per day, it said in the report.

Midyan is one of the new gas fields in northwest Saudi Arabia to produce gas for power plants and potentially supply other industries in a region rich in iron ore deposits. It was discovered in the 1980s and has significant reserves.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal, writing by Hadeel Al Sayegh; Editing by Adrian Croft)