Hazim Abbas, Senior Petroleum Engineer Consultant at EXPEC ARC, Paul Tubel, President of Tubel Energy, and Brett Bouldin, Petroleum Engineering Specialist at EXPEC ARC, deep in conversation at Technology Quest

Saudi Aramco Initiates new Collaborations in Successful Technology Quest Event

Nabil AlDabal, Managing Director, Aramco Overseas Company B.V. officially opening Technology Quest 2011 in Aberdeen, Scotland

Saudi Aramco held its first European Upstream “Technology Quest” 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.

Hosted by Aramco Overseas Company UK Ltd, the three-day symposium focused on investigating solutions to 24 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 shaped 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 from Europe and North America, and also Russia, Ukraine, 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.”

Samer AlAshgar, Manager of EXPEC ARC, addressing the crowd at Technology Quest 2011 in Aberdeen, Scotland

Samer AlAshgar, Manager of Saudi Aramco’s EXPEC ARC also addressed the gathering and stated, “The aim of Technology Quest is to partner and collaborate 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 long term discovery and recovery goals and targets in Saudi Aramco.”

AlAshgar continues, “Our development plans for our oil and gas fields are decades long. This allows us, in fact pushes us, towards a strategy that invests significantly in high impact technologies that typically would have a long-term investment horizon. This has resulted in a portfolio of R&D projects that is more balanced with process changing, breakthrough type of projects, and not on simple enhancements.”

A representative from each of the research teams then delivered a challenge-specific presentation to the audience on their research domains. “Automation in the Seismic Value Chain” is a major research initiative within Geophysics Technology of EXPEC ARC, said Panos Kelamis, Chief Technologist of Geophysics. “More data is on the way … we continue to employ more receivers and simultaneous sources in addition to non-seismic technologies, for example electromagnetics and gravity. Automation offers unique opportunities to accommodate these large volumes of multi-disciplinary data while improving subsurface imaging with reduced cost and turnaround time” he added.

Panos Kelamis, Chief Technologist for Geophysics EXPEC ARC, explaining to the audience a geophysical challenges facing Saudi Aramco at the Technology Quest Innovation Symposium, Aberdeen, Scotland

Over the course of the three days, Technology Quest then saw 40 presentations delivered by delegates in breakout rooms. Additionally, more than 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 shared with 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 for academic institutions, small corporations and even computer gaming 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.

Introducing 2011 Saudi Aramco Technology

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EXPEC – Advanced Research Center Brochure

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All proposals, together with all Intellectual Property Rights therein, submitted to Saudi Aramco for the purpose of Technology Quest 2011 will remain the property of the owner and will be classed as confidential. Saudi Aramco views this venture as a partnership with successful participants.

For more information about the 2011 Saudi Aramco Technology Quest, please email:

Please note: The deadline has passed and submissions are no longer being accepted for the 2011 Technology Quest.