A supertanker berths at Aramco’s Ras Tanura Sea Island Terminal, part of the Port of Ras Tanura, the world’s largest crude oil export terminal complex. Saudi Aramco produced 9.5mn bpd of crude last year, up from 9.4mn in 2013, according to the annual review the company posted on its website on Monday. Natural gas output rose to 11.3bn standard cubic feet a day from 11bn, it said.

Bloomberg/Kuwait


Saudi Arabian Oil Co, the world’s largest crude exporter, boosted 2014 production of hydrocarbons close to an all-time high while adding reserves amid a supply glut that led to a drop in oil prices by almost half last year.
Saudi Aramco, as the state-owned company is known, produced 9.5mn bpd of crude last year, up from 9.4mn bpd in 2013, according to the annual review the company posted on its website on Monday. Natural gas output rose to 11.3bn standard cubic feet a day from 11bn, it said.
The company discovered five gas fields and three oil deposits in 2014 and “booked reserves that significantly exceeded production, despite the fact our combined oil and gas production approached an all-time high,” former chief executive officer Khalid al-Falih said in the review.
Aramco increased oil production amid a global glut that drove benchmark prices down almost 50% last year. Opec, led by Saudi Arabia, chose in November to keep pumping crude to protect its share of the market rather than cutting output to boost prices. The 12-nation Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries produced more than 31mn bpd last month, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The Saudi company’s oil reserves grew to 261.1bn barrels in 2014 from 260.2 in 2013, while reserves of gas increased to 294tn standard cubic feet from 288.4tn, the review showed. The company said it maintains an oil-production capacity of 12mn bpd.
Oil-refining capacity was 3.1mn bpd at the end of last year, Aramco said. Its refining venture with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp in Fujian, China, raised capacity to 280,000 bpd, while a plant in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, is set to start processing in 2017, according to the review.
Aramco is seeking to upgrade three refineries in Indonesia, it said.
Aramco is planning to spend between $70bn and $80bn on overseas acquisitions and investments during the next five years, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, asking not to be identified as the information is private.