US oilfield services major, Baker Hughes, has opened a research and technology centre in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to concentrate on new ways of unlocking “unconventional” hydrocarbons like shale gas.
The newly constructed facility is the result of years of planning and a partnership between Baker Hughes and Saudi Aramco. It is far-sighted and unmatched by anything in Europe as far as Energy can gauge.
The centre brings together the competencies of Baker Hughes’ engineers and scientists with those from Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas industry and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
It will offer research opportunities for students and post-graduates in topics ranging from petrophysics, drilling, geomechanics and fluids to production technology.
Offering state-of-the-art rock and fluids laboratories, the Dhahran centre provides the equipment required to further the understanding of the complex science and technology involved in developing unconventional resources.