Saudi Aramco plans to significantly increase its spending to $414bn over the next decade, with large chunks of the estimated budget to be allotted for infrastructure and drilling.

The spending plan is higher than Aramco’s projection last year of about $334bn by 2025, as the energy giant has been expanding its businesses, the company’s CEO Amin Nasser said on 12 December at a industrial conference in Dammam.

“We are into so many sectors now,” Nasser was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters.

Aramco’s plan includes $134bn to spend on drilling and well services, and $78bn to maintain oil output potential, Nassir al-Yami, the company's general manager for procurement, told the conference.

Aramco has already created a department for renewables to develop wind and solar projects. Moreover, last month, it signed a preliminary deal with petrochemicals producer Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) to build a $25bn complex to convert oil to chemicals.

Also last month, Aramco signed several agreements with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors for the enhancement of its gas compression programme at Haradh and Hawiyah. Together, the contracts were valued at nearly $4.5bn.