The oil giant's executive committee has approved several other major projects. At a meeting recently, members unveiled plans to set up a massive refining and petrochemical project in Ras Tanura in line with its development plans in the petrochemical industry.

Saudi Aramco's plans also include the doubling of drilling rigs and increasing the number of oil wells by 61 per cent.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco's plant in Qateef won the International Excellence Award for Completion of Projects. The award was presented to Ali Al Ajami, deputy president of Saudi Aramco for administration of projects, at the International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha.

At the conference Al Ajami said that more than 150 Saudi Aramco projects are nearing completion.

They include a crude oil processing venture in Al Khursaniya with a capacity of 500,000 barrels a day, and upgrading the crude oil project in Al Khurais which will have a capacity of 1.2 million bpd.

The Qateef project is regarded as the largest being implemented in the petroleum industry with a daily capacity of 800,000 barrels of crude and 400,000 barrels of condensate.