Saudi Aramco is using advanced seismic technology to look again at deposits in the country 's Empty Quarter after previously failing to find recoverable reserves of natural gas . The company analyses the effects of artificially generated shockwaves to build up a three - dimensional picture of the structure of rock to a depth of several meters , to help identify locations likely to have oil and gas deposits . Part of that desert area has been explored before by Aramco joint ventures with foreign firms, but previous exploration efforts did not find recoverable volumes of oil or gas. Technology has advanced to the degree that “ data that would have previously taken 15 to 20 years to collate can now be consolidated in two to three years " , Aramco said on its website .
Saudi Aramco is using advanced seismic technology to look again at deposits in the country 's Empty Quarter after previously failing to find recoverable reserves of natural gas . The company analyses the effects of artificially generated shockwaves to build up a three - dimensional picture of the structure of rock to a depth of several meters , to help identify locations likely to have oil and gas deposits . Technology has advanced to the degree that “ data that would have previously taken 15 to 20 years to collate can now be consolidated in two to three years " , Aramco said on its website .