The contract is largely devoted to the study of geomechanics - interesting and important problem of the oil and gas industry, which investigates the stress state of the environment in the development of deposits. The geological environment is always in some tension, strain state, which is important to explore, in particular, while choosing places to drill or during hole boring - in order to avoid falls and accidents. Given that today boring and offshore drilling in general are very expensive processes, such research is a good way to avoid fatal errors.
MSU has long-standing tradition of cooperation with major oil and gas companies. University laboratories are well equipped for the study of mineral and elemental composition of oil. MSU is not limited to the study of geomechanics only along the borehole, but involves three-dimensional study of stress environment, which improves the reliability of the results.
"In fact, this agreement is concluded with the Faculty of Geology, which acts as a representative of the University," said Dmitry Koshchug, Professor of the Faculty of Geology. "The faculty can provide scientific support to the company in the area in which we have intimate knowledge, that is prospecting and exploration, the first phase of the oil business. There's critical need in seismic search techniques developed at the Department of seismics and geoacoustics, and the Department of geology and geochemistry of oil and gas. The Department of the regional geology and Earth history also deal with the basin's substance itself, the history of the oil pool, an evaluation of its reserves, and a choice of production strategy. In short, it's complete research that precedes development of the field and allows the oil companies to take a very risky and costly decision on whether to start developing commercial sense, and if so, in what way to do it."
According to Dmitry Koshchug, scientists at the Faculty of Geology have a number of projects on this subject. "Of course, the oil companies have the necessary knowledge and methods, but science is developing and there is always something new and untested. For example, one of the new technologies developed in the department, allows "to clean" the signal from the noise during seismic works using supercomputing technologies. Both our software and hardware projects are used for this purpose. In many ways this is being done for the first time since the very direction has originated relatively recently. It must be said also that the Department of geology and geochemistry of oil and gas of Faculty of Geology of MSU is one of the world leaders for using X-ray computed tomography to study the structure of oil and gas and rock pore space. All major companies have been using these methods for two years, but here in MSU we have inventions that help better interpret the data obtained, understand how precise shots should be, with which spatial resolution they should be done, and how to interpret the results", the professor clarified.
"We highly appreciate the contribution of the Moscow State University to the development of background knowledge, the training of qualified personnel for the industry and to the research and development of geological and geophysical exploration of oil and gas deposits," said Yuri Krasnevsky, the vice-president on geology and development of "Bashneft". "We hope that our collaboration with the best university in Russia would be effective not only for the solution of specific problems faced by the company, but also for the development of geological science as a whole."
"Cooperation with "Bashneft" is important for us, taking into account the vast experience of one of the oldest Russian oil companies in the development and implementation of advanced technologies, significant sucess in exploration and a leading position in terms of growth of oil production," said academician Dmitry Pushcharovsky, the Dean of the Faculty of Geology of MSU. "We expect that the cooperation of academic research and business will make a practical contribution to the development of the entire oil and gas industry in Russia."
The agreement also includes the implementation of educational programs in the field of professional training and staff development in "Bashneft", which will be implemented in cooperation with the Graduate School of Innovative Business (Faculty of Moscow State University).
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