CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Gov. Matt Mead’s trip to Saudi Arabia last week has succeeded in drawing interest to energy research going on at the University of Wyoming, but it’s too soon to say whether that will result in Saudi investment in the project.
As a result of the weeklong trip, officials from Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals will be visiting UW soon, Mead said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press.
“I was very gratified by the meetings in terms of their interest and their commitment to come over and see firsthand what we’re doing at UW,” Mead said.
UW scientists are doing specialized research that could have application to extracting oil from underground formations that are tough to tap.
Mead was accompanied on the trip by Mark Northam, director of the UW School of Energy Resources.
Mead said the purpose of his trip was to draw more interest in the UW research from the Saudis that hopefully will result in them investing in the UW project.
“Our hope is that the university folks from King Fahd University and Saudi Aramco will be interested enough in our work that perhaps we can form a partnership like they have with Stanford University and some other top notch universities in the United States,” he said. “And I’m hopeful about that because I do think the work that’s being done over there (UW) is cutting edge and has created a lot of excitement in the oil and gas industry.”
While no commitments have been made by the Saudis, their decision to make a trip to Laramie is encouraging, Mead said.
“The first step is to get them over here to see what we’re doing, and understandably, they want to see what we’re doing before they make what, if any, commitment,” he said.
Saudi Aramco manages Saudi Arabia’s vast oil reserves, which it estimates at just over 260 billion barrels, and the world’s fourth-largest supplies of natural gas.
“It’s enormous, and they spend a lot of money in development and a lot of money in research,” Mead said. “I made this trip because I’m hopeful that they’re interested, and I’m hopeful that they will in fact invest in the research.
