Primary Program Markets and Industrial Development
Research Interests Energy Security, International Trade, and Market Structure

Biography

Majed is a Research Fellow at KAPSARC with a focus on energy security, oil trade, and market structure. He has more than 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in the fields of simulation and modeling, asset management, oil field development, disruptive technologies, and business planning, gained at Chevron and Saudi Aramco.

Majed holds a B.S. degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa in the United States, along with two M.S. degrees in petroleum engineering, and reservoir geosciences and engineering, respectively, from Texas A&M University and the Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP School). He recently earned his Master of Science degree in public economics and policy from Purdue University.

Publications

See all Majed A.’s publications

Are Bankruptcies Healthy For The Tight Oil Sector?

Between January 2015 and mid-2020, about 69 of the approximately 2,160 small-to-medium independent oil companies operating in the tight oil sector filed for Chapter 11 protection. These filings mostly occurred in 2016 and 2019. A lack of financial discipline and poor financial risk assessment meant that these companies were negatively impacted by the low oil prices in these years. Hence, they declared bankruptcy.

14th February 2021

Natural Gas Utilization in GCC Countries

Between 2009 and 2019, marketed gas production by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members has grown at an average rate of 4.8% per annum, from 265 billion standard cubic meters in 2009 to 422 billion standard cubic meters (Bscm) in 2019. This has been driven by increased demand for gas for electricity generation, power desalination, and petrochemical industries.

22nd September 2020

Crude Oil Reserves Metrics of GCC Members

As of December 2018, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries had combined proven reserves of 497 billion barrels of crude oil. This represents approximately 34% of the world’s estimated proven crude reserves.

27th April 2020

Leveraging Intellectual Capital to Enhance Collaboration and Technology Deployment While Mitigating Freedom to Operate Risks in the Partitioned Zone

Saudi Arabian Chevron, Inc. (SAC) established a robust, evergreen Intellectual Property Program to manage its intellectual property assets across the onshore portioned zone. The program applies Chevron’s intellectual property asset management system and accounts for government regulations and specific intellectual property provisions for company operations in the region.

7th November 2016

Devising and Optimizing Development Strategies for South Fuwaris Field Using Integrated Reservoir Simulation Models

The South Fuwaris Field is located in the Partitioned Zone (PZ) between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and is operated jointly by Saudi Arabian Chevron (SAC) and Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC). South Fuwaris produces light crude (240 API) from two prolific heterogeneous carbonate reservoirs: Ratawi Limestone and Ratawi Oolite. The field has been developed using vertical and horizontal wells with all wells on electric submersible pumps.

21st April 2015

Pushing Maximum Reservoir Contact Applications to New Limits in Tight Facies: A Case Study of Middle East’s Highest Reservoir Exposure Producer

The paper presents the evolution of reservoir management strategies that supported a recently drilled penta-lateral producer, which set a company record of total reservoir contact in a major greenfield in the Middle East. This paper will investigate the maximum reservoir contact (MRC) evolution in the field, the design phase of this game-changing producer, lessons learned and future implications.

19th January 2014

World’s First Blue Ammonia Shipment Signals Prospective New Low-Carbon Energy Trade for Saudi Arabia

On September 27, 2020, Saudi Aramco successfully exported the world’s first shipment of carbon-neutral ammonia to Japan, helping to fuel the nascent Japanese hydrogen economy. This pilot shipment of 40 tonnes is an important realization of the hydrogen economy for both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Japan. It also signals a potentially important addition to the Kingdom’s export commodity portfolio.

26th November 2020

The Prospect of Unconventional Gas Development in Saudi Arabia

In February 2020, Saudi Aramco announced that it obtained regulatory approval to develop the Jafurah Basin, Saudi Arabia’s largest unconventional natural gas field (Figure 1). Situated east of the giant Ghawar oilfield, it contains 200 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas resources.

19th April 2020

U.S.-Iran Tensions and the Waiver Renewal for Iranian Gas Exports to Iraq

Following the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 3, as a result of a United States (U.S.) airstrike, the Iraqi Parliament passed a resolution stating that it “must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason.”

30th January 2020

Implications of the 2021 Iran-China Deal for the Oil Market

In late March 2021, China and Iran signed a cooperation pact to stimulate investments in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical infrastructure. We refer to this pact as the ‘Iran-China deal’ throughout this manuscript. This deal attracted substantial attention for its effects on global oil markets and the geopolitics of the region. Reports suggest that China may invest as much as $400 billion in Iran’s infrastructure and oil sector over 25 years owing to the deal. In exchange, Iran will supply oil to China at below-market prices.

5th October 2021

Saudi Arabia’s Gas Flaring Mitigation Experience

Gas is envisaged as the fuel of choice in the power sector and is the ideal fuel to help transition toward clean, sustainable, and affordable energy access. As vital as gas is for electricity generation, the petrochemical industry, the transportation sector, and heating, many oil operators either flare or vent associated gas, a by-product of oil extraction, at the wellhead or gathering stations. This releases greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere and is done for various reasons, including infrastructure constraints, a lack of financial incentives to capture and process gas, poor regulatory frameworks, or binding contractual rights.

14th September 2020

Fit-For-Purpose Energy Transition Strategies: Case Studies from G20 Members

T20

2020

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Would Shale Impede or Accelerate the…

The webinar is co-hosted with the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), and King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) Over the past decade, the shale boom created a shift in the world’s energy landscape, economy, and politics. Tight oil and shale gas production have been adversely impacted by recent events in the oil […]

30 Nov

How Can Governments, Oil & Gas…

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Digital transformation has gained greater momentum during COVID-19 and is perceived by leading oil and gas enterprises as a pivotal vehicle to improve efficiency and accelerate the decarbonization of the oil and gas value chain. Historically, many large-scale digital applications have experienced setbacks and challenges and have under-delivered on what they had envisaged to fulfil. […]

Majed A. Al Suwailem

Research Fellow

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