Institute visited by representatives of TOFS Group of Companies
One of the nation’s leaders in oilfield services is interested in arranging cooperation with IGPT.
The meeting featured Danis Nurgaliev, Vice-Rector for Earth Sciences; Ildus Chukmarov, Deputy Director for Continuing Education and Industrial Partnerships at IGPT; Mikhail Varfolomeev, Director of the Small-Tonnage Chemical Technology Park; Vladislav Sudakov, Deputy Director for Marketing at the Gazpromneft-KFU Scientific and Educational Center; Igor Antipin, Professor in the Department of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry; and Dinar Belkaev, Engineer at the Synthetic Polymer Materials and Composites Lab.
TOFS Group was represented by three people: Ilya Blinov, Head of the Research and Development Center in the Technology and Investment Department; Tatyana Urazbaeva, Project Manager of the Research and Development Center; and Dmitry Chuvashov, Lead Engineer for Drilling Fluids and Completion Fluids.
Dr Nurgaliev gave a presentation on Kazan University. He introduced the guests to the history and structure of the university and then focused on KFU’s strategic projects. One of these is entitled Development of Technologies for Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resources and Late-Stage Fields, and our scientists play a key role in its implementation. Introducing the institute, the Vice-Rector noted that it has a laboratory complex that allows for research at the highest level and described several unique scientific facilities and ongoing projects.
Dr Chukmarov spoke about the Institute’s collaboration with Russian and international industrial partners, including continuing education. He cited examples of successful collaboration between the Center for Advanced Training and various companies.
Dr Varfolomeev noted that a number of institutes at KFU are engaged in oil and gas development, including the Institute of Chemistry, the Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics, the Institute of Ecology, Biotechnology, and Nature Management, and the Institute of Physics. He outlined the priority interdisciplinary projects they are jointly implementing.
“We work closely with industry, building the entire chain – from reagent development in the laboratory to its application, and we also monitor its performance at the field,” he said.
Dinar Balkaev’s presentation focused on the use of superstructural polymer materials based on polyphenylene sulfide, developed by scientists from the Institute of Chemistry. These special plastics are distinguished by their ability to retain their properties at very high (up to 250 degrees Celsius) and very low (down to -100 to -150 degrees Celsius) temperatures, as well as exhibiting high resistance in aggressive environments and low water absorption.
“We told TOFS about superstructural polymer materials and the composite materials based on them that we are currently working with, and the company’s representatives offered us interesting ideas for creating new composite materials with specific properties that meet their requirements. We will develop new composite materials based on superstructural materials,” Igor Antipin said after the meeting.
Following this, guests were given a tour of the IGPT laboratories, during which they were able to learn about the research being conducted there.
“Our company provides oilfield services and constructs oil and gas wells for clients. We resolve some of the problems we face ourselves, but for others, we need reliable partners like Kazan University to quickly and optimally address them. The most pressing issue today is the development of hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves. Furthermore, there are other challenges that need to be addressed, related to drilling, drilling fluids, and enhanced oil production methods,” Ilya Blinov commented. “We thank Kazan University for their hospitality. We are very interested in collaborating and have already outlined potential joint projects.”
