Innovation and long-term investment are at the heart of Saudi Aramco’s transformation into “the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals company”, industry leaders heard last week.
Speaking at the 34th annual IHS Energy CERAWeek, Saudi Aramco’s Muhammad M. Al Saggaf, acting service line head of Operations and Business Services, said that innovation is not an option, it’s a requirement for the success and survival of an organisation.
He added that “maintaining investment and long-term purpose” were critical in challenging market economics and pointed to collaboration, diversity, and vitality as prerequisites for innovation to take place.
“Diversity and vitality are critical to creativity, and creativity is the foundation of innovation in business,” Saggaf said.
Saudi Aramco has also outlined plans to become one of the world’s leading technology providers by 2020 and R&D will play a crucial part in achieving this.
The oil giant recently established three new research and development (R&D) facilities in the US — Boston, Detroit, and Houston — which combined together make a total of nine satellite centres. It also manages a number of R&D facilities in Dhahran in the Kingdom.
Saudi Aramco is also planning to become a leader in unconventional gas development launching a number of prominent shale gas projects.
There is a vast knowledge base in North America where unconventional oil and gas plays first became commercially viable and Aramco could arguably gain vital knowledge from US shale players.
But unlike the US, the drives and triggers in Saudi Arabia come from a total macroeconomic or country perspective rather than a single operator focused on specific plays and cash flow.
Ibraheem Assa’adan, Saudi Aramco’s vice president of Exploration, said: “We are at the beginning of a long journey”.
He added that Aramco is taking best practices, where applicable, and replicating the model in customised ways for maximum efficiency.
When asked about expectations for the scale of activity for unconventionals within Saudi Arabia, he said that activities were driven by demand.
Assa’adan revealed that the company is looking at modular processing facilities, fit-for-purpose rigs, water management and recycling programmes, as well as leveraging some of North America’s best practices.
