03-02-09 Top oil exporter Saudi Aramco has saved at least 20 % on the costs of developing the Karan gas field after asking companies competing for the contract to resubmit bids.
The cost of the project has fallen by at least $ 1 bn from previous estimates that pegged it as high as $ 5 bn. Aramco asked companies to resubmit bids to reflect the fall in the prices for steel and raw materials since last summer.

The start up of output could be delayed to 2012 from 2011. Aramco has yet to name a winner for the project.
Karan will produce 1.5 bn cfpd and is key to meeting a growing gas shortage in the kingdom. Gas from the field will be processed with gas from the Moneefa oilfield. Aramco was also reviewing contracts for the Moneefa development as part of a wider drive to reduce contract costs.

Aramco and French major Total aim to save at least $ 1.2 bn on the cost of their new joint refinery at Jubail in Saudi Arabia.
Cost estimates for that plant reached as high as $ 12 bn during the commodities boom.