Saudi Arabia is taking first steps to explore its shale gas potential, a development that could see the kingdom replicate the energy revolution that has led to a dramatic increase in supply in North America.
The oil minister Ali Al Naimi, said the country's national oil company, Saudi Aramco, will dig up to seven test wells this year.
The world's biggest exporter is struggling to meet domestic demand or natural gas, the most common feedstock in its power plants, and has been forced to expand its production of conventional gas.
Vast reservoirs of natural gas stuck in shale rock formation have been prospected in the northwest of the country, and could help to stave off a shortage of the commodity.
"We know where the areas are," Mr Al Naimi said yesterday. "We have rough estimates of over 600 trillion cubic feet of unconventional and shale gas so the potential is very huge and we plan to exploit it."
The American oilfield services company Baker Hughes puts Saudi reserves of potentially recoverable shale gas at 645 trillion cubic feet, which would make them the world's fifth largest deposits.
A shale boom in North America has cut gas prices, boosting the economies of Canada and the United States and opening up export opportunities.
Saudi Aramco is already exploring the kingdom's east and the vast deserts of the Empty Quarter for sulfur-rich sour gas and other unconventional gas.
Saudi Arabia's conventional gas resources are estimated at 282.6 trillion cubic feet .
The first shale test wells are likely to lead to a more comprehensive exploration programme that will assess the recoverable reserves.
Experts say that the volume of shale gas resources make it likely that they will be tapped in future.
"It is very probable, if not inevitable, its just about timing. Right now the kingdom is developing more conventional resources," said Sadad Al Husseini, a former executive vice president for upstream operations at Saudi Aramco.
"There could be something coming out of the ground in five years. But I don't think the urgency is there unless the resources are really encouraging."
The current resource estimates for shale gas differ from the amount of gas that can be extracted from the rock formations, added Mr Al Husseini.
"Usually you recover less than 5 per cent."
Production of shale gas in Saudi Arabia will also be hampered by the vast amount of water required to for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the technique that is used to extract the gas from the rock.
[ fneuhof@thenational.ae ]
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
MATCH INFO
Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
Getting there
Given its remote location, getting to Borneo can feel daunting even for the most seasoned traveller. But you can fly directly from Kuala Lumpur to Sandakan and Sepilok is only half an hour away by taxi. Sandakan has plenty of accommodation options, while Sepilok has a few nature lodges close to the main attractions.
Full Party in the Park line-up
2pm – Andreah
3pm – Supernovas
4.30pm – The Boxtones
5.30pm – Lighthouse Family
7pm – Step On DJs
8pm – Richard Ashcroft
9.30pm – Chris Wright
10pm – Fatboy Slim
11pm – Hollaphonic
The Roundup
Director: Lee Sang-yong
Stars: Ma Dong-seok, Sukku Son, Choi Gwi-hwa
Rating: 4/5
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
Top tips to avoid cyber fraud
Microsoft’s ‘hacker-in-chief’ David Weston, creator of the tech company’s Windows Red Team, advises simple steps to help people avoid falling victim to cyber fraud:
1. Always get the latest operating system on your smartphone or desktop, as it will have the latest innovations. An outdated OS can erode away all investments made in securing your device or system.
2. After installing the latest OS version, keep it patched; this means repairing system vulnerabilities which are discovered after the infrastructure components are released in the market. The vast majority of attacks are based on out of date components – there are missing patches.
3. Multi-factor authentication is required. Move away from passwords as fast as possible, particularly for anything financial. Cybercriminals are targeting money through compromising the users’ identity – his username and password. So, get on the next level of security using fingertips or facial recognition.
4. Move your personal as well as professional data to the cloud, which has advanced threat detection mechanisms and analytics to spot any attempt. Even if you are hit by some ransomware, the chances of restoring the stolen data are higher because everything is backed up.
5. Make the right hardware selection and always refresh it. We are in a time where a number of security improvement processes are reliant on new processors and chip sets that come with embedded security features. Buy a new personal computer with a trusted computing module that has fingerprint or biometric cameras as additional measures of protection.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
The lowdown
Bohemian Rhapsody
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee
Rating: 3/5
CREW
Director: Rajesh A Krishnan
Starring: Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kriti Sanon
Rating: 3.5/5
Avengers: Endgame
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin
4/5 stars
The specs: 2018 Honda City
Price, base: From Dh57,000
Engine: 1.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 118hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 146Nm @ 4,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km
Mubalada World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule
Thursday December 27
Men's quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm
Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm
Women's exhibition
Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm
Friday December 28
5th place play-off 3pm
Men's semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm
Saturday December 29
3rd place play-off 5pm
Men's final 7pm
Confirmed bouts (more to be added)
Cory Sandhagen v Umar Nurmagomedov
Nick Diaz v Vicente Luque
Michael Chiesa v Tony Ferguson
Deiveson Figueiredo v Marlon Vera
Mackenzie Dern v Loopy Godinez
Tickets for the August 3 Fight Night, held in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, went on sale earlier this month, through www.etihadarena.ae and www.ticketmaster.ae.