Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has said the kingdom expects to begin final negotiations with Shell and ExxonMobil on an estimated USD 12 billion gas investment at the end of this month after receiving what he said were positive responses from the two consortia led by the two oil majors. “Negotiations to reach a final agreement are very close for Core Venture 3 and the responses from Core Venture 1 were positive and will be followed by negotiations with various sectors,” he said. The prince, who heads the ministerial negotiating committee for the gas project, also confirmed the USD 5 billion Red Sea Development Project was shelved pending a review of the project’s economics.
ExxonMobil had been selected to lead CV 2 with partners Marathon and ConocoPhillips. Exxon is also leader of the USD 7 billion South Ghawar project or CV 1 with Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips. Shell leads the CV 3 or the Shaybah Development project with TotalFinaElf and ConocoPhillips.
