Saudi Aramco has announced the opening of a ‘game-changing’ Baker Hughes GE (BHGE) research facility at Dhahran Techno Valley.

The firm says the move reflects its commitment to cutting edge technology and developing global partnerships.

The new facility will feature what’s billed as groundbreaking technologies and will include the first industry 3D printer for metal in Saudi Arabia, as well as a data visualisation and automation platform to help simulate and optimise well activity and construction.

“This centre will be a game-changer in ways that many of us would have considered science fiction’ at the beginning of our careers. Saudi Aramco and BHGE have a long history of working together. We appreciate BHGE’s wholehearted commitment to the kingdom and to supporting Saudi Aramco in its operations,” said Saudi Aramco’s VP of petroleum engineering & development, Nasir Al Naimi.

Saudi Aramco says that it expects the technology and strategic impact of the new centre to significantly upgrade the company’s capabilities to project manage, design, manufacture, and commission hardware and software (control & condition monitoring industry), with the ambition of deploying it globally.

Al Naimi added, “In a way, I believe the strength of this relationship comes from a fundamental alignment of the technology roadmaps between Saudi Aramco and BHGE.”

The facility is expected to house a Visualisation Lab featuring a digital learning, visualisation and automation platform, which can absorb data from multiple sources to create a digital twin of the planned well and its surrounding ecosystem. The firm says this will enable well planners to run multiple predictive simulations and workflows to optimise the well construction process.