Decades of experience and achievement accompany MGS growth

Ever since Aramco began pumping oil from the Prosperity Well No. 7 in Dhahran in 1937, natural gas has escaped as well. 

As the Kingdom’s economic development gathered pace in the 1970s, the Saudi government took the innovative and strategic decision to capture this gas to provide feedstock for power generation, water treatment, and heavy industry. This was a time when the prevailing practice worldwide was systematic flaring.

In 1975, Aramco embarked on the Gas Gathering Program to build a network of gas plants and pipelines connecting producing fields to industrial customers. What soon became the Master Gas System (MGS) was born. 

Today, the MGS is one of the largest integrated gas gathering, processing and distribution networks of its kind, and is now growing further. 

One of the most critical mega-projects in Aramco’s history, the current Phase 3 expansion is upgrading current infrastructure and adding nearly 4,000 kilometers of new pipelines, new booster gas compression stations, and 17 gas compression trains to deliver 3.16 billion standard cubic feet of gas.

MGS Historical Development
Commissioning of new gas plants

1975: Master Gas System initiated

1977: Berri Gas Plant

1980: Shedgum Gas Plant

1981: ‘Uthmaniyah Gas Plant 

1984: Non-associated gas is introduced.

1995: Major debottlenecking projects.

2000: Expansion of the MGS to Riyadh Province

2001: Hawiyah Gas Plant

2003: Haradh Gas Plant. Expansion to the West Coast.

2008: Hawiyah NGL Recovery Plant

2010: Khursaniyah Gas Plant

2012: Khursaniyah Gas Plant (Karan NAG) 

2014: Wasit NGL Fractionation Plant 

2015: Shaybah NGL Recovery Plant 

2015: Wasit Gas Plant 

2016: Midyan Gas Plant 

2020: Fadhilli Gas Plant 

2023: Hawiyah Gas Plant expansion

2026: Planned commissioning of Tanajib Gas Plant

Career highlights

At the heart of all this growth are the people of Aramco. In the 1970s, they were dreamers and pioneers who saw beyond the present and brought the MGS to life, shaping the future of energy in the Kingdom.

Today, they are still proud to play their own part in a success story that has transformed Saudi Arabia, but also the lives of their communities, their families, and themselves. 

Abdulelah S. Qahtani, currently an industrial computer engineer at the ‘Uthmaniyah Gas Plant (UGP), feels that he has grown up with the MGS.

There is a kind of twinness between me and gas plants. I was born in 1978, when the gas plants projects started. Sometimes I find that I am two months older than pipes that were fabricated on July 1978, and so many times I found some globe valves that are four months older than me.
— Abdulelah S. Qahtani

He is most proud of his part in recommencing gas production at the UGP in the aftermath of the drone attacks at Abqaiq in September 2019. 

“With gas production shut down, my colleagues and I conducted emergency innovation round the clock for 72 hours to find the right technical specifications needed to treat gas from different fields.”

Hamad A. Khaldi, a petroleum engineering consultant in the Southern Area Gas Operations (SAGO) Business Support Division, still marvels at the changes he has seen in his career since he first worked in gas operations in 1995. 

Over the years, we have changed from a world of manual operations, hand calculations and a New Gas Sector that was always the second priority, toward the present day, with automation, digitalization, and equal priority with crude oil sector.
— Hamad A. Khaldi

His career highlight has been his involvement in the design of the Haradh Gas Plant and Shaybah NGL plant. “I was able to change the heating media source from steam system to hot oil system,” said Khaldi.

Faisal A. Odah, Hawiyah NGL Recovery Plant operations manager, joined Aramco from high school in 1992 as a trainee, but it was Aramco’s continued support for his education that had the most life-changing impact. 

“I had the opportunity to go to college in the U.S. for my BS degree in metallurgical engineering. Later, I progressed in my career to manager.

His 32-year career has mirrored the development of the MGS, starting in the Central Engineering/Inspection Department and then Abqaiq Plants, before moving to Southern Area Gas Operations in 2003, where he has worked at ‘Uthmaniyah, Haradh, and Hawiyah.

His is most proud of his contribution to the construction of the Hawiyah Gas Plant. 

I supported the plant during the project phase as part of the Quality Control Agency in the Inspection Department.
— Faisal A. Odah

Pride, commitment, experience

Aramco continues to advance its gas operations and its goal is to increase sales gas production by 60% between 2021 and 2030. Along with investment and technology, it is the pride, commitment, and experience built up by Aramco’s employees over decades in the field that will turn this ambition into reality.

Caption for top photo: The Berri Gas Plant under construction, 1975 to 1977.