Big growth ahead seen for Saudi gas utilization

A discussion on Saudi Arabia's natural gas resources and utilization covers reserves and production, wherein reserves accounts for 4.1% of global gas reserves, making the kingdom the fourth largest in the world in terms of gas reserves; the exploration for dry gas to increase the kingdom's non-associated gas reserves whose exploitation is not dependent on crude oil production; the Master Gas System, which was designed to aid the country's industrial development by providing fuel and feedstock for new petrochemical industries that were a key part of the country's economic diversification; sales gas system; fractionation and distribution of NGL, i.e., ethane, propane, butane, and natural gasoline; natural gas demand; power generation; seawater desalination; the petrochemical industry, including methane, derivatives of ammonia, methanol, and ethylene; other uses of Saudi sales gas, e.g., as fuel; and the Gas Initiative, which is a major thrust toward industrialization in the kingdom.