Saudi Arabia to Use Shale Gas for Power Plant

Saudi Arabia will use shale gas for development of a massive power plant, new agency AFP reports.

The biggest oil producing nation launched an unconventional gas programme in northern Saudi Arabia two years ago.

"We are now ready to commit gas for the development of a 1,000 megawatt power plant, which will feed a massive phosphate mining and manufacturing center in the region," Saudi Aramco president Khalid Al Falih told the World Energy Congress underway in Daegu, South Korea, AFP said.

Oil Minister Ali Naimi estimated in March that Saudi Arabia had 600 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas. 

Al Falih gave no details as to how much gas Aramco could commit to the power plant, or when supplies might start, but he was bullish on the sector's overall future, the news agency reports. 

"I believe the US shale revolution will spread far and wide... The rush, ladies and gentlemen, is definitely on," he told the Congress in a keynote speech. 

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