November 17, 2002	Sunday	Ramazan 11, 1423

NICOSIA, Nov 16: One of three core ventures in Saudi Arabia’s multi-billion dollar gas initiative is set to go ahead after oil major Shell submitted a “mostly positive response”, the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) reports in its Monday edition.

Last week Shell submitted a mostly positive response to the final offer from the Saudi Ministerial Committee ... relating to the five billion dollar Saudi Gas Initiative Core Venture 3 (CV3), opening the way for the project to go ahead once final modifications are agreed, MEES reports.

CV3 embraces exploration of 90,000 square kilometre in the Empty Quarter desert, a development study of the Kidan gas field, treatment and transport facilities from the Shaybah field, a petrchemical plant, a power and desalination facility on the Gulf coast and a pipeline from Kidan and Shaybah.

The focus of the final negotiations between the CV3 partners Shell (40 per cent, TotalFinaelft (30 percent), Conoco (30 percent) and the Ministerial Committee is likely to be on the scope of the work commitment for the upstream acreage and the delimitation of some of the downstram aspects, MEES says.

The Cyprus-based energy weekly adds that ExxonMobil as leader of the 15 billion dollars CV1 has yet to submit a response to the committee and CV2 is understood to haver been sidelined for the time being.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said at the end of October that foreign oil companies were expected to respond soon to a “final, lucrative offer”.

Riyadh signed in June last year preliminary agreements with eight international oil companies for the projects worth some 25 billion dollars in investments.

But talks with the companies to strike permanent implementation agreements stalled over profitability and commercial terms, with two deadlines last December and March passing without a deal. —AFP