Heavy crude is more expensive to extract and needs considerably more refining
No Peak Oil – Why Then is Saudi Aramco Opening Old Wells for Heavy Crude?
Posted: 17 Feb 2012 10:57 AM PST
Following the Iranian Revolution in 1979 demand of oil from Saudi Arabia fell from ten million barrels per day (bpd) to three million bpd. As a result of the reduced production many small oil wells were closed down, including the Dammam oil field, home to Saudi Arabia’s oldest wells. Sadad al- Husseini, once the executive vice president for exploration and development at Saudi Aramco, said that, “we simply didn’t need small fields like Dammam, and in fact shut in fully or partially many other fields including Khurais, Khursaniya,…