Saudi Arabia: Riyadh looks east

With Russian and Chinese companies winning out in the kingdom's first gas licensing round, James Gavin questions whether the Saudis are rewarding political and commercial allies

THE SELECT list of companies signed up to explore and develop untapped Saudi Arabian gas reserves is not one that analysts would have predicted a couple of years ago. The presence of the heavyweight European majors Royal Dutch/Shell and Total aside, few would have considered China's Sinopec, Russia's Lukoil or Spain's Repsol YPF as representative of the corporate muscle that Riyadh would have wanted to develop its gas resources. The non-participation of other majors looks a pointed slight at the Saudis' failure to push ahead with their vaunted gas opening. ExxonMobil had led two of the three core gas ventures that were abandoned last year, but is now nowhere to be seen. BP and ChevronTexaco