Amin a-Nasser, CEO of Saudi energy giant Aramco, predicts that the kingdom will become the world's No. 3 producer of gas by 2030. He said this yesterday when the development project of the giant al-Jafura gas field began.

He noted that the output from the field will reach 2 billion cubic feet per day when the development work is completed.

The field was discovered in 2014 and has a potential of 200 trillion cubic feet of gas (more than 12 times that of Israeli "Leviathan" or 20 times that of Israeli field "Tamar"). The development costs of the field are estimated at about $2 billion. 

The Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman ruled last year that priority for gas produced from the field would be given to the local economy and not to exports.