Saudi Aramco Sr. VP calls for industry-academic cooperation to push technological frontiers

To ensure that its technological edge remains sharp, Al-Falih said, Saudi Aramco has launched an aggressive research and development vision that includes ambitious goals such as gigacell reservoir simulators, autonomous wells that "think" and drill themselves, and reservoir measurements generated by nanorobots. In the downstream arena, the company is studying the desulfurization of "whole" crude oil and refined products using biotechnology, and advanced fuel formulations, including on-board reforming of gasoline into hydrogen and carbon-emissions mitigation. "Together, those technologies will help us find and recover more oil, enhance fuel efficiency, and significantly improve environmental performance both locally and globally," Al-Falih said.

This vision for advanced technology, however, is not starting from scratch; Saudi Aramco's operations are already characterized by widespread application of some of the most cutting-edge equipment and processes in the industry. These include four-dimensional seismic surveys, massively parallel-processing computers to simulate the company's huge reservoirs, and GPS and VSAT systems linking its headquarters to remote operations. "For several years now, geologists working from our offices or even from their homes can guide the directional drilling of a well hundreds of kilometers away to within a few centimeters of its target," Al-Falih said.

He also noted that Saudi Aramco for decades has had close relationships with universities and research institutions, including in Japan, through which useful technologies and processes advance upstream and downstream operations, as well as enhance environmental protection capabilities. He cited the example of Saudi Aramco's partnership with Saudi Arabia's King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, the Japan Cooperation Center-Petroleum, and Nippon Oil. This partnership has developed an innovative high-severity fluid catalytic cracking process to enhance light olefins and aromatics production. "This process, which has been demonstrated in our Ras Tanura Refinery, is now entering the commercialization phase with the installation of an HS-FCC facility in a Japanese refinery by 2010," Al-Falih said.

Al-Falih underscored the need for greater collaboration between academia and the petroleum industry, noting that "our technology agenda has tremendous ramifications for the world of tomorrow." Saudi Aramco and its academic and research partners have two primary challenges, he said: first, to provide stable energy supplies to power human development and social progress, and second, to meet this need in an environmentally sound and ecologically sustainable manner. "Here, there are exciting new fields of research and development," Al-Falih said, "including carbon management; formulation of cleaner fuels; increasing the efficiency of motors, engines and other equipment; and technologically driven conservation measures, such as creating lighter, more durable and more easily recycled materials."

Al-Falih also alluded to future in-Kingdom opportunities for manufacturing and conversion industries, as well as new businesses made possible by the development of advanced materials. He noted that the initiative launched in May by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to establish an Industrial Cooperation Task Force will facilitate Japanese investments in these new Saudi industries, which in turn "can serve as a new model for even stronger partnerships to come."

Driving Saudi Aramco's vision for the role of technology in its operations, and driving its collaborative approach to technological advancements, Al-Falih pointed out, is a strong utilitarian inclination. "Whether it's a plow or a particle beam, technology is really just a way to extend human capabilities or enhance the human experience," Al-Falih said. "And ultimately, what must be evaluated is how we utilize new technology and what we do or produce with it."

Al-Falih noted that Saudi Aramco's approach to technology is geared strictly toward achieving results: providing petroleum to customers, "and by extension, to the billions of consumers they serve around the globe, and doing so in an environmentally responsible manner."

Al-Falih concluded his address with an exhortation to the energy industry and academia to keep a powerful vision before them - one of raised standards of living. "Because energy is indispensable to our way of life and our ability to improve living standards for the billions of men and women who still live in poverty," he said, "the development of new cost-effective energy technologies is one of humanity's most important agenda items as we look into the future."