Saudi Aramco broke ground on the construction of a new research centre at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), with an anticipated completion date of mid-2019.
The facility will allow Saudi Aramco to leverage its position within the R&D ecosystem at KAUST to accelerate the implementation of the company’s technology strategy, Saudi Gazette reported.
The facility will include laboratories and offices to support research in the areas of chemicals, intelligent systems, solar energy, reservoir engineering, computational modelling, and environmental protection.
The new centre will be a 1.13ha research facility, housing 132 scientists and researchers, aimed at supporting Saudi Aramco’s upstream and downstream research domains as well as environmental protection research efforts.
Khalid Al Falih, Saudi Minister of Energy, said, “Saudi Aramco and KAUST are leaders in technology development domestically and internationally. Their unique roles in developing innovative and original research is essential to the future success of the energy industry in Saudi Arabia.”
Ahmad Khowaiter, chief technology officer for Saudi Aramco said: “This new facility is about expanding our research needs as a business. As part of our new technology strategy we are looking to enable our research domains through capitalising on the world-renowned scientists, exceptional facilities, and international network of academic institutions affiliated with KAUST.”
