Saudi Arabia has large reserves of unconventional gas that could help the kingdom to meet soaring domestic energy needs and leave more crude oil available for export, the head of its national oil company has said.

沙特阿拉伯国家石油公司(Saudi Aramco)负责人表示，沙特拥有庞大的非常规天然气储备，可以帮助该国满足不断飙升的国内能源需求，并把更多的原油留作出口之用。

Khalid Al-Falih, chief executive of Saudi Aramco, told the Financial Times that the kingdom could hold hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of unconventional resources such as shale gas, more than doubling its proved reserves of 280,000bn cubic feet.

沙特国家石油公司首席执行官哈立德-法力赫(Khalid Al Falih)告诉英国《金融时报》，沙特可能拥有数百万亿立方米诸如页岩气等非常规能源储备，是其已探明储备（280万亿立方米）的一倍以上。

The announcement of large unconventional natural gas reserves signal a potential opportunity for Saudi Arabia, but also confirms that Riyadh has not found as much conventional gas as it had hoped.

沙特方面宣布拥有庞大的非常规天然气储备代表着一种潜在的机会，但同时也证明，沙特政府未能像其期望的那样发现大量常规天然气。

International companies, which have been shut out of Saudi Arabia’s oil production for decades, have been looking over the past five years for natural gas in the kingdom’s Empty Quarter desert, with largely disappointing results.

过去5年间，数十年来无法涉足沙特石油生产的跨国公司一直在该国空域沙漠(Empty Quarter)地区探勘天然气，但结果大多令人失望。

However, Mr Falih said that exploration there and in other parts of the country was revealing the potential for unconventional gas to make a “very significant” contribution to supply.

不过，法力赫表示，在空域和该国其它地区进行的勘探表明，非常规天然气有可能在供应方面作出“非常重大的”贡献。

Unconventional gas reserves, which have been made accessible by improvements in technology, have transformed the energy outlook for North America, sending prices to their lowest level in seven years.

技术进步使得人们可以找到非常规天然气储备，这改变了北美地区的能源前景，使（天然气）价格跌至7年低点。

However, the methods used in the US, including the injection of large volumes of water to crack the rock and allow the gas to flow out, may not be suitable for the deserts of Saudi Arabia. “We’re talking to our IOC [international oil company] partners about bringing their knowledge to bear,” Mr Falih said.

然而，在美国使用的一些方法，比如注入大量水使岩石开裂、天然气渗出的方法，可能并不适用于沙特的沙漠地区。法力赫表示：“我们正与国际石油公司伙伴们进行沟通，希望引入它们的技术。”

Having reached the kingdom’s target of oil production capacity of 12.5m barrels a day, well above current production of about 8.3m b/d, Saudi Aramco is now investing more in natural gas than in oil production.

沙特国家石油公司已经达到了该国1250万桶的日产能目标，远高于目前的约每天830万桶，目前该公司正在天然气方面进行更多的投资。

The kingdom faces growing energy demand, particularly for electricity during the summer, which it is meeting by burning crude oil in power plants.

沙特面临着不断上升的能源需求，特别是夏季对电力的需求，目前该国是通过燃烧原油发电来满足这种需求。