Saudi Arabia ’s natural gas reserves rose last year as it explored for the fuel in the Red Sea and tapped shale gas to free more crude oil for export, according to the kingdom’s state-run oil company. Saudi reserves increased to 288 trillion cubic feet of gas last year from 285 trillion in 2012, Saudi Arabian Oil Co. said today in its annual review. The company is ready to use shale gas to fuel a 1,000-megawatt plant that will feed electricity to a large phosphate mining project, the company known as Saudi Aramco said. “Saudi Arabia will be among the first countries outside North America to use shale gas for domestic power generation,” the company said. “We are actively exploring for unconventional gas resources,” which may be large in scale, it said. The shale gas drive will help the kingdom free more diesel and crude oil for export, the […]