We are focused on strategic research that moves our work from the lab into the field. We are transferring knowledge and creating technologies that are applied to some of the world's largest onshore and offshore field developments.
Our work not only applies to the oil and gas industry, but also has far-reaching implications for other industries. We are developing innovative solutions to today's operational challenges while also looking ahead to create the energy breakthroughs that will power the future.
Aramco Research Center – Houston
The Houston research center spans upstream disciplines and is strategically located in a major hub for the international oil-and-gas community, giving our research scientists access to industry partners as well as other research organizations and academia.
Focusing on upstream research and technology development that will help us achieve breakthroughs in the discovery and recovery of hydrocarbon resources, our team has expertise in production management, drilling, reservoir engineering, geology, geophysics, and subsurface sensing and control.
Our pioneering sensor technology has created faster and more cost effective ways of gathering well log data. Measuring produced fluids in a reservoir at different velocities and during different phases has become less complex with more accurate, proprietary multiphase metering. Our researchers are working at the most fundamental molecular level to understand and optimize the behavior of cements and other drilling fluids and to create a new generation of drilling muds, fluids and resin repair solutions.
Houston-based geoscientists are writing new chapters in establishing workflows and best practices for 3D printing of rocks with digital models maintaining accurate resolution and high fidelity in terms of geometry and topology.
High pressure, high temperature (HP/HT) extremes experienced with deepwater offshore wells are being studied as well as challenges faced by drilling and producing from unconventional reservoirs –shale, carbonate or tight sandstone — with unconventional rocks exhibiting their own unique characteristics and behavior.
In addition to our main facility with its various specialty labs, an annex building serves specifically to stage our Sensors Development Laboratory.
Aramco Research Center – Boston
Our Boston center specializes in computational reservoir modeling, advanced separation systems and materials, nanotechnology, and novel corrosion-resistant materials for oil and gas and chemical applications. The center is located adjacent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, an area with a long-standing reputation for innovation.
One of the center’s initiatives has invented an entirely new material to increase crude to chemical conversion from 50 to 70 percent. Our researchers have taken another quantum leap with Aramco’s reservoir simulation tool, TeraPOWERS, allowing engineers to virtually look inside a reservoir to view a formation with incredible detail.
Advancements with nanoparticles - particles that are 10,000 times smaller than a typical thickness of human hair – called Resbots, are underway. Injected into wells and traveling through the void spaces of rock, Aramco’s Resbots retrieve valuable information to improve production, maximize recovery and locate new discoveries.
With the latest equipment and methods, Aramco is looking at an age-old problem, corrosion, on the nanoscale. Our Advanced Materials Team is examining ways to control steel corrosion – costing trillions of dollars for a number of industries – not just oil and gas but others such as utilities, transportation, or infrastructure.
Our collaboration with MIT and throughout the region further engages us with other top researchers, innovative companies, national laboratories and governmental agencies to promote technology transfer and the mitigation of climate change through carbon reduction. This extends our reach into the fields of sustainable and renewable energy; carbon capture, utilization and storage; environmental sciences; energy storage; water conservation and reuse; and other technologies, including artificial intelligence and robotics.
From innovative materials used in heavy-hydrocarbon separation to the deployment of reservoir nanoagents for better monitoring and imaging, our multidisciplinary research in Boston is dedicated to working on key elements of complex energy challenges today and tomorrow.
Aramco Research Center – Detroit
Our Detroit center is a key contributor to Aramco’s global fuels research program by promoting the development and adoption of efficient, sustainable and affordable transport solutions for the future. The facility’s research capacity encompasses very small engines such as a single-cylinder research engine to 1,000 horsepower heavy-duty on-road and stationary engines.
With a global refining presence, Aramco brings a unique perspective into how fuels can be designed and matched with engines – both current and future fuel-engine systems – for higher performance and lower emissions.
The 50,000-square-foot facility includes research related to fuel combustion and emissions, technology integration and strategic transport studies. The center is equipped with state-of-the-art engine dynamometer labs, including a vehicle integration lab featuring a chassis dynamometer for evaluating engine performance and identifying solutions to all types of system integration challenges.
Supporting facilities include a prototype engine build lab, fabrication shop, vehicle soak room, engine start-cart lab, and associated vehicle integration facilities. Our capabilities surrounding fuel design allow for back-to-back advanced fuel testing and blending.
Located in the Detroit suburb of Novi, we leverage the geographic excellence of being in the heart of North America’s automotive industry. Working with universities, transportation companies and suppliers, research organizations, national labs and trade and automotive societies we are invested in the creation of low-carbon-footprint transportation technologies in support of reducing CO2 emissions from transport sources.
Mobile carbon capture and gasoline compression ignition (GCI) represent two of the major technologies advanced in both passenger vehicles and commercial fleet trucks to reduce carbon emissions.
Addressing Long-Range Energy Solutions
The goal of these centers is to bring top researchers, innovative companies, governmental agencies, and other stakeholders together to address global energy and climate challenges. Our commitment to R&D and collaboration underscores the importance we place on shaping the future with technology transfer and innovative solutions to address the world’s increasing demand for energy.
Our teams of scientists and researchers work on identifying solutions that will have far-reaching impact, not only for Aramco, but for the world.
