Technology Quest brings collaborative opportunities for Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco held its first European Technology Quest Upstream Innovation Symposium in Aberdeen, Scotland from October 10-12, 2011. Experts in the field gathered at the invitation-only event to explore opportunities to collaborate with Saudi Aramco in the development of breakthrough upstream technologies.
By Laura Baker
Hosted by Aramco Overseas Company UK Ltd, the three-day symposium focused on investigating solutions to 21 specific challenges within several research domains, including computational modelling, geophysics, geology, production, drilling and reservoir engineering relating to the work of Saudi Aramco’s Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC). There were months of preparation in the lead up to the event as academics, researchers and commercial companies perfected their proposals for joint development initiatives to address these challenges before submitting them through the official Technology Quest website.
Technology Quest drew 170 technology experts from across the globe with representation not only from Europe and North America, but also Russia, Australia and the Far East.
The symposium commenced with opening remarks from Nabil Aldabal, Managing Director of Aramco Overseas Company B.V. “Technology Quest is an event which seems to me to be unique as it encourages pioneering contributions from those outside the small group of mega companies within the industry. And this year for the first time “Quest” is being held in Europe, further recognition of the prominent role European companies’ play in the upstream oil and gas industry.”
Next to address the gathering was Samer Al-Ashgar, Manager of Saudi Aramco’s EXPEC ARC. “The aim of Technology Quest is to discuss proposals and work with several of you to find solutions to these challenges. EXPEC ARC’s role is to develop innovative upstream oil and gas technologies for tomorrow that are aligned with our discovery and recovery goals and targets in Saudi Aramco.
“Saudi Aramco manages about 20 percent of the world’s conventional oil resources with oil reserves at 260.1 billion barrels, and this allows us to approach technology and research and development with a different outlook,” he added.
Al-Ashgar shared several of Saudi Aramco’s long term research and development programs with the audience. They are : ‘Bringing Automation to the Seismic Value Chain’, which involves mechanization of the acquisition, processing and interpretation activities in the chain to better manage a deluge of date enhancing quality, efficiency and cost. ‘Seismic Acquisition’ involves multiple vibration sources acting simultaneously, thus reducing acquisition time from a month to a three to four days. He then highlighted the ‘Resbots program (Reservoir Nano Particles program’) which focuses on developing tiny nanoparticles that traverse through the reservoir to record information, acting as sensing agents that help characterise the reservoir. The Next’ Gen I-Field’, a project that aims to move from near well bore measurements towards measurements that are more deep sensing moving towards the “next generation” intelligent field; and ‘Giga-Cell Simulation (GigaPOWERS)’ which utilises billions of computer cells to produce high resolution 3D reservoir models. The target for 2012 being to simulate one billion cells in an hour.
“I would like to emphasize here that we are seeking long term relationships that are mutually beneficial and a relationship such as this needs to be a two-way street. The partnership must not only fit our interests but also commercially fit yours too,” he added.
A representative from each of the research teams then delivered a challenge-specific presentation to the group pertaining to their research domain. Over the course of the three days, Technology Quest then saw 40 presentations delivered by delegates in breakout rooms, as well as over 130 private one-on-one meetings that took place, giving delegates and Saudi Aramco’s chief technologists from the EXPEC ARC a great opportunity to discuss their ideas for collaboration in detail.
Dr. Ali Dogru,Chief technologist of Computational Modelling Technology with Saudi Aramco said: “We were really impressed with the quality of the proposals as well as the innovative ideas communicated to us.”
William Rossen, Professor of Reservoir Engineering Technology at Delft University of Technology said: “This was my second time participating in Technology Quest and I find it very useful. Saudi Aramco was genuinely interested in our proposal and the level of calibre of their technologists and indeed the attendees was very high. It was really interesting meeting the other delegates representing Computational Modelling that came from academic institutions, small corporations and even computer game companies.
Klaus Mosbacher, Managing Director of ABBON, a production technology company said, “I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by the pragmatic approach and the hands-on mentality from Saudi Aramco. We appreciate that Saudi Aramco is talking with smaller companies and promoting innovation in its early stages.”
This year’s event was the Company’s third Technology Quest, with the previous two being hosted in Houston by Aramco Services Company.
For additional information, please visit www.techquest2011.com
