Privately-owned local Saudi contractor Arkad Engineering & Construction is set to complete construction of a key pipeline, part of Saudi Aramco’s Khurais increment programme, in November.

Arkad was awarded the estimated $250m engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in January 2015 to build the pipeline between the Mazalij and Abu Jifan onshore oil fields, covering a distance of about 250 kilometres.

“The pipeline job is coming to a completion by November,” a source close the project told MEED.

The objective of the Khurais programme is to increase production capacity at the Khurais Central Processing Facilities (CPF) by 300,000 barrels a day of oil (b/d) from its current capacity of 1.2 million b/d, as well as to enhance production from the Mazalij and Abu Jifan fields by installation of a satellite Gas Oil Separation Plant (GOSP).

Khurais is located adjacent to the Ghawar oil field, one of the world’s largest, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

The field began operations in 2009 and produces 1.2 million b/d of Arabian light crude, 320 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas and 80,000 b/d of natural gas liquids (NGLs).

Aramco’s CEO Amin Nasser has previously confirmed that the state oil behemoth is pressing ahead with the development of the Khurais asset.