Saudi Aramco, the state energy major company of Saudi Arabia, has gone on to sell several cargoes pertaining to ultralight crude oil from its Jafurah gas plant, which is worth $100 billion to U.S. majors as well as an Indian refiner, as it goes ahead and prepares to export its first cargo later in February 2026, four trade sources have confirmed.
The Jafurah project, which is estimated to have 229 trillion standard cubic feet of raw gas along with 75 billion barrels of condensate, is central to the ambitions of Aramco in order to boost the gas output so as to become a major international natural gas player and also to expand the offerings it has pertaining to ultralight crude oil grades.
Chevron, the U.S. major, has purchased two Jafurah condensate cargoes so as to load later this February 2026 and in March too, while Exxon Mobil Corp. and Indian Oil Corporation bought cargoes that are to be lifted in March 2026, said the sources.
Notably, the cargoes were sold at premiums of $2 to $3 per barrel to Dubai quotes on a free-on-board basis, they went on to add.
Very First Cargo Likely for South Korea
The first cargo by Chevron is likely to go to GS Caltex, the South Korean joint-venture refiner, whereas the second could go to Star Petroleum Refining in Thailand, two of the sources went on to confirm.
According to Saudi Aramco, it is indeed working pretty closely along with the Ministry of Energy in order to safely accelerate the production in line with the approved development plans along with market needs.
Aramco did not comment on market speculation or on particular cargoes, customers, or even commercial arrangements, for that matter, it added.
On the other hand, Chevron also declined to comment. Exxon, IOC as well as SPRC did not respond immediately to the requests for comments, and the same happened in the case of GS Caltex.
Biggest Shale Project Outside The US
The fact is that Jafurah happens to be potentially the biggest shale gas project that is outside the U.S. and is most likely to reach sustainable production of almost 2 billion cubic feet every day by the end of the decade.
Aramco could as well export four to six 500,000-barrel cargoes of Jafurah condensate every month from the eastern port of the country at Yanbu, a source confirmed to Reuters earlier.
Notably, condensate happens to be a non-gas liquid that can get processed at splitters in order to produce petrochemical feedstock naphtha as well as other refined products, or it can even get blended along with crude so as to get distilled at refineries.
Apparently, the Jafurah condensate happens to have an API gravity of 49.7 degrees and also contains around 0.17% sulfur, confirms a preliminary crude assay that is reviewed by Reuters.
Around 40% of its output is petrochemical feedstock naphtha, which is mainly the heavier grade, while the rest of the output happens to be gasoil as well as kerosene, showed the assay.
