HOUSTON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Oil services company Halliburton said it opened a center in Saudi Arabia to develop solutions for the development of conventional and unconventional reserves.
Halliburton, which has headquarters in Houston, said it was adding to a foundation in Saudi Arabia established by a 3,000-strong workforce in the kingdom with the new technological research center.
"The new center enables Halliburton to provide state-of-the-art research and development solutions for conventional and unconventional reservoirs addressing challenges both in the kingdom and regionally," the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Halliburton said it would work alongside state energy company Saudi Arabian Oil Co. to develop solutions that could be implemented quickly at Saudi oil and natural gas fields.
Unconventional reserves refer to deposits locked in shale formations and coalbed methane. Halliburton said in a 20-page report produced in 2005 that unconventional reserves may be "a resource even larger than the known reserves of conventional oil and gas."
U.S. oil production is rivaling that of Saudi Arabia thanks in part to the U.S. success in shale reserves.
