Cooperation agreement signed by KFU and NOVATEK Science and Technology Center
The ceremony took place on the sidelines of the 4th Annual Conference on Potential of the North of Western Siberia: Resources and Technologies in Tyumen.
The document, which involves interaction in the science, education and innovation, was signed by Vice-Rector for Earth Sciences Danis Nurgaliev and the General Director of NOVATEK STC Vladimir Solovyov. It talks about joint research and technological activities in oil and gas technologies, geology, digital technologies, chemistry, and new materials.
KFU and NOVATEK STC are successfully working in a number of areas, implementing joint initiatives. The agreement is aimed at developing cooperation and involves the selection and implementation of new products and technologies, the development of highly qualified personnel in the oil and gas sector. It provides for the implementation of joint research, technological and educational projects, advanced training and retraining of the center’s personnel, as well as increasing the professional competence of KFU students, teachers and researchers through internships.
From Kazan University, along with Danis Nurgaliev, the two-day conference was attended by the Director of Low-Tonnage Chemical Technology Park Mikhail Varfolomeev, Deputy Director for Marketing of Gapzom Neft-KFU Center Vladislav Sudakov, and others.
Our employees presented reports on the use of artificial intelligence in the oil and gas sector.
“Partnership is important both among companies and between companies and universities,” said Dr Nurgaliev. “To increase the efficiency of using artificial intelligence in exploration and production of hydrocarbons, a huge amount of data is required on which it could be trained. The main problem is that most of the information is confidential and stored in closed company databases. Quality training of AI models requires tens of thousands of datasets. No single company has this much. The problem can only be solved through cooperation and partnership.”
The vice-rector noted that during the signing of the agreement with NOVATEK STC, he emphasized that today it is very important to develop fundamental research together with companies. Universities must negotiate with industrial partners and accumulate their data in order to be able to create universal AI solutions.
“At the conference there was a lot of talk about technological independence, which usually means technological leadership. In order to achieve technological leadership, we need scientific breakthroughs of a fundamental nature,” emphasized Dr Nurgaliev. “Today we cannot overtake China, it works faster, it has more people, more money. To achieve technological leadership, we need discoveries. It is impossible to provide it in any other way. Today we are trying to do applied things, but we must not forget about the development of fundamental science. If we forget about it, we will lose a lot.”
During the conference, several strategic and technological sessions were held, and the representatives of KFU participated in them as experts.
“I would like to note that at several meetings Kazan University was cited as an example. This is exactly how, according to industry representatives, projects in the oil and gas sector should be implemented. KFU has everything necessary to carry out turnkey projects: from idea to implementation in practice. This was, in particular, mentioned by our colleagues from the companies Gazprom Neft and Novatek. At the conference, we had meetings with the management of these companies, where we discussed cooperation,” said Mikhail Varfolomeev.
