Saudi Aramco has slowed down Red Sea drilling activities as low crude oil prices make deepwater exploration less commercially attractive.

The cost of offshore operations amounts to $1.0 million according to sources speaking anonymously to Reuters news agency.

“One of the most expensive offshore (areas) happens to be in the Red Sea – the depth is different from the Gulf coast. They did discover a lot of oil and gas but they need to do lots of tests. Now with the current prices, they have put it on hold until further notice to collect more data,” said one of the sources told Reuters.

Last week Saudi Aramco’s chief executive, Khalid al-Falih, said that the oil major would postpone certain projects in reaction to the oil price crash, but would also continue investing in key areas, with up to $7.0 billion earmarked for unconventional natural gas exploration and production programmes.

Source: Oil and Gas Technology