SAUDI OIL RESERVES RISE DESPITE HIGHER OUTPUT
  Proven oil and gas deposits in Saudi
  Arabia increased in 1986 despite higher oil output, according
  to the kingdom's main producing company, Aramco.
      Recoverable oil reserves in Aramco fields rose to 167
  billion barrels by the end the year from 166.5 billion in 1985,
  while gas reserves jumped by 7.7 pct to 135.8 trillion cu ft
  from 126.1 trillion, the company's annual report said.
      Aramco, responsible for all Saudi production except about
  200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the Neutral Zone between Saudi
  Arabia and Kuwait, increased production to 4.69 mln barrels per
  day in 1986 from 3.04 mln barrels a year earlier.
  
      Most of 1986 was a virtual free-for-all in production, as
  OPEC members abandoned restraint in an effort to recapture
  their share of the market. In the process, prices collapsed
  from about 28 dlrs a barrel to below nine dlrs, until the
  organisation decided to cut production again from last
  September onwards.
      Saudi output in 1985 had been the lowest since the 1960s.
      Production of natural gas liquids in 1986 declined slightly
  to 304,178 bpd from 316,310, said the report, carried on the
  official Saudi Press Agency.
      The increase in reserves came despite a sharp cut in the
  number of wells Aramco drilled to 33 in 1986 from 103 in 1985.
  
      Aramco's only refinery, at Ras Tannurah, processed 142.44
  mln barrels (390,246 bpd) of crude last year. The plant was
  upgraded to a capacity of 530,000 bpd during the year, enabling
  it to supply 50 pct of local demand for oil products, the
  report said.
      The country's other five, smaller refineries -- owned by
  another state-owned oil organisation, Petromin -- produced
  around 750,000 bpd last year.
  
      Sulphur production rose to 1.23 mln tonnes in 1986 from
  998,707 tonnes in 1985. During the year the company began
  operating a sulphur granule plant with capacity of 4,000 tonnes
  per day, the report said.
      Aramco said it awarded 1,303 contracts last year worth 1.4
  billion riyals -- about 370 mln dlrs.
  

