The Minister of Oil of Iraq visited the IGPT KFU

The Minister of Oil of the Republic of Iraq Ihsan Abdel Jabbar Ismail, his deputy Khamed Yunis Saleh, General Director of South Gas Company Hamza Abdulbaki Nasser, Chief of Staff of the Minister of Oil Saif Talal Imran Al-Tamemi visited the Institute of Geology and PetroleumTechnologies of Kazan Federal University as part of a working trip to the Republic of Tatarstan.

At IGPT KFU, guests were welcomed by KFU Rector Ilshat Gafurov, Vice-Rector for Research, Director of the Institute of Geology Danis Nurgaliev and Deputy Director for Marketing, Director of the Center for Advanced Training, Quality Management and Marketing Ildus Chukmarov.

Guests from Iraq visited the 3D GEO Center, where they learned about history of KFU, the latest developments of the university in the field of technologies for prospecting, exploration and production of oil.

“173 students from Iraq study at KFU in the 2020/2021 academic year,” said Danis Nurgaliev. Of them 40 bachelors, 46 masters, 54 specialists, 11 postgraduates, 2 interns, and 20 students study in a preparatory school. 57 students from Iraq study at IGPT.”

The students’ representatives also attended the meeting. Ihsan Abdel Jabbar Ismail talked to the students, he inquired about their success and invited them to do an internship at South Gas Company, one of the largest gas company in the world.

Speaking about the experience in giant oilfields, Danis Nurgaliev mentioned the Romashkinskoye oilfield, which is a real testing ground for new technologies and advanced equipment in the field of subsoil exploration and oil production. Many effective technologies were applied on this oilfield for the first time.

Vladislav Sudakov, Deputy Director for Innovation, informed the guests that Kazan Federal University had become the head organization of the WCRC “Rational development of the planet’s liquid hydrocarbon reserves.” The main areas of the project are large-scale studies of oil and gas storage basins for predicting hydrocarbon accumulation zones using end-to-end technologies, creating a new paradigm for field development based on innovative monitoring methods, developing environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and cost-effective technologies for developing complex reserves (viscous oils, carbonate oils, dense and oil-bearing rocks). Vladislav Sudakov also spoke about the use of nanoscale catalytic systems for “underground oil refining” as well as about the latest technologies in the field of simulation and modelling.

Danis Nurgaliev paid special attention to the history of cooperation between KFU and Iraq. He emphasized that in 2015, the Center for Advanced Training, Quality Management and Marketing (CdoGEO) organized training for students from Iraq, which was held in Kazan under the “Modern Approaches in Reservoir Modeling”, “Interpretation of Seismic Exploration”, “Earth Remote Sensing” programs.

Then Danis Nurgaliev showed the guests some of IGPT laboratories. The delegation visited the laboratory of X-ray computed tomography with installed nanofocus research X-ray system for computed tomography General Electric V|tome|X S 240 (Germany). In the laboratory, scientists perform pore-scale modeling, industrial defectoscopy, and study the structures of porosity and fracturing.

In the laboratory of elemental and isotopic analysis, the guests were shown the laboratory building of IGPT with modern equipment for isotopic and elemental analysis of the highest class with a full range of methods for sample preparation and analysis.

In the laboratory of isotope geochemistry and stratigraphy, the Minister of Petroleum was told about the types of research and methods that scientists are working on.

Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail noted that together with KFU scientists, they can work together on the development of large-scale fields and the production of high-viscosity oils with a high sulfur content.

“CdoGEO took an active part in the meeting of the delegation from Iraq led by the Minister of Oil of the Republic of Iraq, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismail,” says Ildus Chukmarov. “We reminded the guests that we have experience in training specialists from Iraq in the field of professional development.  During the meeting, we made a proposal to the General Director of South Gas Company to organize and conduct advanced training courses both at premises of IGPT and remotely in the form of webinars. We hope to return to Iraq soon with our advanced training programs.”