Has the Advanced Research Center (EXPEC) Been Granted Any Patents?

Yes, the Advanced Research Center (EXPEC), affiliated with Saudi Aramco, has been granted hundreds of patents, with an average of six per week in 2020 alone. By April 2021, EXPEC had surpassed one thousand patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In 2010, ''Saudi Aramco'' celebrated its hundredth patent granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A decade later, in 2020 alone, the company was granted over 650 patents from the same office, making Aramco one of the top innovative international oil and gas companies. More than half of these patents were the result of activities related to the exploration and production sector.

The Advanced Research Center (EXPEC), in collaboration with the company’s global research centers in North America, Europe, and Asia, is behind more than one-third of the company’s patents registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The innovations developed at EXPEC are transformed into real-world technologies that create value in the exploration and production sector. Researchers at EXPEC have successfully secured protection for these developed ideas, methods, and solutions through patents, which play a key role in the technology lifecycle. This enables Saudi Aramco to benefit exclusively from competitive products and processes, thereby generating value through its innovative technologies.

The Advanced Research Center (EXPEC) is one of Saudi Aramco’s key research and development arms in the oil exploration and production operations sector. Established in 2006, EXPEC has pioneered several technologies that help address operational challenges facing the company, particularly in reducing carbon emissions from exploration and production activities, and laying the foundation for a hydrogen economy. Moreover, these technologies help advance carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies to reduce carbon emissions, ultimately aiming for net-zero emissions by 2050. Additionally, they aim to enhance exploration, increase recovery rates, optimize costs, and improve overall efficiency.