Aramco Drives Energy Innovation and Injects US$100m into R&D

Despite being the world’s biggest energy business and the third largest company of any kind globally, Saudi Aramco is no stranger to lending a hand in helping develop and shape the energy landscape.

To help accelerate research and development (R&D) boasting both substantial environmental and commercial benefits, the state-owned petroleum and natural gas giant has launched a decade-long strategic partnership with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). 

The partnership will see Aramco inject US$100m into KAUST over a decade-long period.

Pushing the boundaries of science and technology

“This collaboration will further deepen Aramco’s relationship with KAUST and we look forward to exploring new possibilities and frontiers with a strong focus on R&D and technology development, reflecting our firm belief in the importance of innovation across industries and applications,” Amin H. Nasser, Aramco’s President and CEO, said.

The funding will be set aside for specific initiatives across a wide range of areas, including essential research to applied technologies, in line with KAUST’s endeavours to utilise as many benefits from science and innovation as possible. Aramco’s contribution will allow KAUST to explore areas such as the energy transition, sustainability, materials transition, upstream technologies and digital solutions, as well as developing commercially-viable outcomes alongside the obvious environmental benefits.

Amin’s sentiments and optimism are echoed by KAUST President Tony Chan.

“The partnership exemplifies KAUST's dedication to fostering impactful research that drives technological advancements and addresses real-world challenges,” he said. “Our collaboration with Aramco will leverage our combined expertise to develop innovative solutions for a sustainable future.”

Saudi Aramco’s commitment to R&D

As a company, Saudi Aramco believes the most important element in addressing global energy challenges — above its importance to the planet — boils down to achieving the necessary technology breakthroughs. This, it says, requires access to the best ideas, people and partners.

Alongside its work as one of the world’s largest integrated energy and chemicals companies, Aramco owns and operates an impressive Global Research Network. The company says this arm of its operations enables innovative research in high-impact, long-term, value-creating domains.

As part of this, it has three in-Kingdom research centres and nine satellite centres and technology offices, with a new facility at its Dhahran headquarters expected to house 850 R&D professionals.

A lot of Saudi Aramco’s motivation to further its R&D stems from the misconception that an oil and gas company cannot positively contribute to the climate challenge. As a world leading energy business, it is steadfast in supporting the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the global average temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

“Reducing emissions to address climate change, while meeting the world’s energy needs, remains the biggest single challenge of this century,” the company said. “Our ambition is to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and  Scope 2 gas emissions across our wholly owned and operated assets by 2050.

This, Saudi Aramco believes, cannot be achieved without technology, spurring its investments and collaboration to bring about technology to tackle the energy industry’s biggest climate challenges.

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