OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2014. Technology and talent are the key to transforming industry challenges into opportunities was the key message from Amin H. Nasser, Saudi Aramco senior vice president of Upstream, at the opening ADIPEC 2014, the third largest energy conference in the world.

Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2014 marked its 30th anniversary.

“The best way to protect oneself from, or prepare for, the future is to create it,” said Nasser during the session, which mirrored the conference’s theme of “Challenges and Opportunities for the Next 30 Years.”

Nasser went on to look at how innovation and leadership challenges can be recast as opportunities and what the future can look like as a result of this.

“Thanks to technology, we’re on the brink of a golden age,” he said, adding that global supply was rising with unconventional oil and gas coming onstream and estimates of recovery levels rising. Resources that only a few years ago were inaccessible or unrecoverable are now being unlocked, he noted.

However, this expansion came at a price, and cost escalation was a major concern, Nasser stressed. Describing a triangle in which the easily accessible resources are at the top, he said the industry is now moving toward the base of the triangle where the amount of resources is greater but requires much more sophisticated technology to extract and produce.

“It is crucial that we all work together to reduce costs,” Nasser said, adding that advancing technology will become a driver for further developments. “We must invest in technology as an enabler of innovation.”

The long view

Nasser observed that although the pace of technology advancement is often dizzying, to truly invest wisely and achieve the best results, leaders industrywide must focus on the long view and commit to investing in technologies that will not only help the industry to survive in the future, but which will also enable it to thrive. He noted that being in an industry that can be volatile at times makes it important to stay the course.

“The market is going to grow,” said Nasser. “We must be ready with the right people, the right training, the right technologies and the right capital program.”

Unconventionals: The case for success

Operational Excellence will be the key driver for success when it comes to developing unconventional fuels, and those who are able to control costs most efficiently will succeed, said Ibraheem M. Assa’adan, executive director of Exploration at Saudi Aramco, at a session titled “Unconventional Resources, Challenges and Opportunities: Focus on the Middle East.”

Assa’adan noted that the Kingdom has significant unconventional opportunities in various locations around Saudi Arabia, from the Rub’ al-Khali in the south to the Eastern Province to the Kingdom’s north, and that exploiting these tight gas and shale gas deposits is crucial to help meet ever increasing power and water demands domestically. As Saudi Aramco begins to ramp up its well-planned unconventional development, it is working to develop these resources as economically as possible.

Research, technology and communication

One of the key drivers to successful R&D efforts industrywide is a commitment to research and strategic global collaboration, said Abdulaziz O. AlKaabi, chief technologist of Reservoir Engineering Technology at Saudi Aramco’s EXPEC Advanced Research Center.

AlKaabi, who was part of a five-person panel discussing “Research and Technology Development,” said that considering its unique position, Saudi Aramco views R&D as a long-term investment. As such, technology is an integral part of the company’s strategy to meet the long-term challenges.

He also stressed the need to understand and decipher challenges at a very fundamental level; bottom-up. “In my opinion, success in reservoir R&D will depend on how well we are able to describe and manipulate the reservoir system at the micro, nano and even molecular and atomic scales,” said AlKaabi, adding that understanding fundamentals is essential. “In fact, new fundamentals and approaches that are in the essence of hydrocarbon extraction will need to be defined.”

A strong presence

In addition to the three high profile speakers, Saudi Aramco — as it has at previous ADIPEC sessions — had a strong presence in the event, from the executive plenary, panel and technical sessions, to its exhibition.

The company’s participation in the event included more than 25 papers by Saudi Aramco Upstream professionals who were accepted for presentation through the various technical sessions.

Also, the company’s “Women Development Program” was recognized as a finalist for the “Empowerment of Women in the Oil and Gas Industry” category during the opening night’s ADIPEC Awards session.