Saudi Aramco participated here today in the UK-Saudi CEO Forum held in London to promote bilateral business and cooperation between the two countries. The forum was scheduled to coincide with the official visit to the UK by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defense. Saudi Aramco has signed a number of MoUs and commercial agreements. Speaking today at the Saudi-UK CEO Forum, Saudi Aramco President & CEO Amin H. Nasser said "Saudi Aramco has a massive investment program over the next ten years", adding that that will include a number of large world scale projects where British businesses can play a major role. The MoUs, signed today by Saudi Aramco with Royal Dutch Shell, Imperial College, The Welding Institute (TWI) and The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), reflect the company's close ties to the United Kingdom and the breadth of its strategic interests. The MoU Saudi Aramco signed today with Royal Dutch Shell agreed to jointly pursue international gas business opportunities, including upstream development, liquefaction projects and other aspects of the gas value chain. The MoU reflects Saudi Aramco's strategy to expand its natural gas assets while acknowledging Royal Dutch Shell's strength in LNG. Saudi Aramco also signed a MoU with The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), one of the world's leading think tanks and research establishments and a frequent host to visiting Heads of Government and senior political leaders. The MoU reflects a long standing relationship and paves the way for further cooperation on assessing changes to the global and national energy markets and policies. Saudi Aramco also signed a MoU with Imperial College London. The MoU will seek to establish joint projects targeting frontier technologies and developments in chemical engineering, petroleum and geoscience, mechanical engineering and advanced materials. Finally, Saudi Aramco inked a further MoU with the internationally acclaimed Cambridge-based independent research and technology institution, TWI which is recognized as a global center of excellence in materials joining and engineering processes. The MoU sets out plans to establish the multi-stakeholder Non-Metallic Innovation Center (NIC) at TWI alongside NSIRC (National Structural Integrity Research Centre), a partnership with leading academic institutions, research centers, energy companies and composite materials manufacturers. The four MoUs were complemented during the visit with two other commercial agreements including one with Aberdeen-based Downhole Products to further strengthen Saudi Aramco's drilling operations.
