The shale revolution that made the United States the world's top oil producer is taking shape in the Arabian Desert. Deep in the sands southeast of Saudi Arabia's giant Ghawar oilfield, state oil company Aramco is pushing ahead with a natural gas megaproject that could boost the kingdom’s revenues by billions of dollars in the coming years. It has brought in U.S. and Chinese firms like Halliburton and Sinopec to deploy advanced machinery - including 'walking rigs', towering structures capable of moving short distances without dismantling and reassembling - to speed up drilling and well completions at the Jafurah basin. While the kingdom has scaled back its futuristic giga-projects and reversed plans to lift oil capacity, Aramco - the world's biggest oil exporter - has raised its gas production targets with this $100 billion bet at the centre, as it seeks to become a major global natural gas player.