State oil company Saudi Aramco has started producing natural gas at the offshore Hasbah field, it said in its weekly magazine The Arabian Sun on Wednesday, ahead of peak summer demand in the world's largest oil exporting country.

From its seven single-well platforms about 150 km (95 miles) northeast of Jubail in the Gulf, Hasbah will provide up to 1.3 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of gas while the adjacent Arabiyah field will provide around 1.2 billion scfd.

The gas will be handled by the Wasit processing plant, helping to meet domestic demand for power generation.

The Hasbah field has much higher levels of hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide than Arabiyah, making it a technical challenge. - Reuters