Saudi Aramco's senior vice president of Industrial Relations, Khalid A. Al-Falih, has addressed Waseda University's Global Information and Telecommunication Institute Symposium, where he emphasized Saudi Aramco's vision for a future driven by research and development that pushes the limits of technology. "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 at the symposium last Thursday. --MORE
