Institute toured by ALROSA delegation
On April 15, the Institute of Geology and Petroleum Technologies hosted a meeting with representatives of ALROSA. The delegation included Alexey Bondarenko, First Deputy Head of the Vilyuisk Geological Exploration Expedition, Konstantin Garanin, Chief Geologist, Evgeny Goncharov, Head of Expertise and Methodology Department of the Geological Exploration Complex, Andrey Butenko, Head of New Projects Development, and Nikolay Lazebny, HR Business Partner of the Geological Exploration Complex.
The guests were met by Danis Nurgaliev, Vice-Rector for Earth Sciences, Ildus Chukmarov, Deputy Director for Marketing, Director of the Center for Advanced Training, Quality Management and Marketing (CdoGEO), Anton Kolchugin, Deputy Director for Research, Vladislav Sudakov, Deputy Director for Innovation, Andrey Teryokhin, Deputy Director for Academic Affairs, and others.
Opening the meeting, Danis Nurgaliev introduced the guests to the faculty and told about the research of the Center for Liquid Hydrocarbons.
Speaking about the developments, the Vice-Rector elaborated on the important direction – specialized low-tonnage chemistry for mineral extraction – chemistry for oil recovery enhancement (waterflood surfactants, foaming surfactants), chemistry for hydraulic fracturing, oilfield chemistry (corrosion inhibitors, salt deposition inhibitors), etc.
The guests showed great interest in the Gisneiro software system designed for automatic (semi-automatic) processing of GIS data, field geophysical surveys, analysis of core material and test results in directional wells of large and giant fields at the late stage of development.
“ALROSA is a major mining company in the diamond mining sector with the world’s largest diamond reserves,” noted Dr Nurgaliev. “During the meeting, we introduced the guests to the main areas of the Institute’s work and discussed developments that can find successful application in the company’s operations.”
To discuss the prospects of cooperation in the field of additional professional education, ALROSA representatives were taken to the 3D GEO Center – a laboratory for visualization of geological and geophysical data, where students learn to build geological models. Here, Ildus Chukmarov told about the history of cooperation with the company and the possibilities of expansion.
“At CdoGEO, 70 ALROSA employees have been trained on advanced training programs ArcGIS Desktop, Compilation of design and estimate documentation for geological exploration works and Commodity operator. Reception, release, storage and transportation of oil and oil products,” Dr Chukmarov noted. “The training was conducted both in the face-to-face format with a trip to Yakutia and remotely. We proposed to expand cooperation in two directions. In tertiary education – to adapt the curriculum of students of master’s and bachelor’s degree programs to ALROSA’s tasks. And for additional education – we offer professional retraining and advanced training programs in the field of prospecting, exploration and production of solid minerals for the company’s employees.”
After discussing the prospects of cooperation, ALROSA employees toured the laboratories. The guests were shown the Laboratory of Isotope and Element Analysis, the Laboratory of X-ray Computed Tomography, and the Laboratory of Geomechanics.
“We visited KFU to establish cooperation in basic and additional education, as well as for the implementation of common projects,” said Nikolay Lazebny. “We were especially interested in the work carried out in the laboratories of tomography and geochemistry.”
At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to exchange proposals and draw up minutes.