The world’s top crude-oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has long lagged behind its rivals in natural-gas production. Now, after years of stumbles and missed deadlines, the kingdom is making progress in boosting gas capacity, top officials said Wednesday, initiating major new projects meant to reduce the country’s reliance on crude oil for producing electricity. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the state-owned energy firm, said it had signed contracts to carry out a $13.33 billion gas project announced last year. When completed in 2019, the Fadhili project, in an isolated stretch of desert in the Eastern Province, will be the country’s first to treat gas from both onshore and offshore fields, said Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudí Aramco, as the state oil company is commonly known. The start of the Fadhili project comes after […]