Ghawar Field
Ghawar (Arabic: الغوار) is an oil field located in Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Measuring 280 by 30 km (170 by 19 mi) (some 8,400 square kilometres (3,200 sq mi)), it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world, and accounts for roughly a third of the cumulative oil production of Saudi Arabia as of 2018.
| Ghawar Field | |
|---|---|
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Region | Eastern Province |
| Location | Al-Ahsa |
| Offshore/onshore | Onshore |
| Coordinates | 25.43°N 49.62°E (Centre approximation: 25.20°N 49.31°E) |
| Operator | Saudi Aramco |
| Field history | |
| Discovery | 1948 |
| Start of production | 1951 |
| Peak year | 2005 (Contested) |
| Production | |
| Current production of oil | 3,800,000 barrels per day (~1.9×108 t/a) |
| Year of current production of oil | 2019 |
| Current production of gas | 2,000×106 cu ft/d (57×106 m3/d) |
| Estimated oil in place | 48,250 million barrels (~6.583×109 t) |
| Estimated gas in place | 110,000×109 cu ft (3,100×109 m3) |
| Producing formations | Upper/Middle Jurassic, Upper/Lower Permian, Lower Devonian |
| External images | |
|---|---|
| Ghawar Field map and regional setting | |
| Regional cross section through Ghawar | |
| Total Wells at Ghawar. Blue wells are waterflood injectors, red are production wells. |
Ghawar is entirely owned and operated by Saudi Aramco, the state-run Saudi oil company. In April 2019, the company first published its profit figures since its nationalization nearly 40 years ago in the context of issuing a bond to international markets. The bond prospectus revealed that Ghawar is able to pump a maximum of 3.8 million barrels (600,000 m3) per day—well below the more than 5 million barrels (790,000 m3) per day that had become conventional wisdom in the market.