Bashneft and Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) have signed a five-year Cooperation Agreement.

The Agreement provides for cooperation between MSU and Bashneft in research aimed at tackling fundamental issues related to oil and gas geology, prospecting for conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon deposits, their exploration and development, hydrocarbon processing techniques; in implementing state-of-the-art methods and technical solutions in these spheres and training highly qualified personnel.

'We greatly appreciate MSU’s contribution to the development of fundamental knowledge, training and development of highly qualified personnel for the industry, as well as research and development related to geological and geophysical exploration of oil and gas fields,' commented Yury Krasnevsky, Bashneft’s Vice President for Geology and Development. 'We hope that our cooperation with the country’s leading university will be effective not only in terms of accomplishing specific tasks that the Company is faced with, but also in terms of overall development of geological science.'

'Cooperation with Bashneft is important to us, given the vast experience of one of Russia’s oldest oil companies in development and implementation of advanced technologies, its impressive track record in geological exploration and leading positions in terms of oil production growth rates,' emphasized Academician Dmitry Puscharovsky, Dean of the Faculty of Geology of MSU. 'We expect that cooperation between academic researchers and the business will make a practical contribution to the development of the entire Russian oil and gas industry.'

Cooperation with Bashneft under the Agreement will be coordinated by the Faculty of Geology of MSU. In addition, small innovative enterprises created with support from MSU, such as the Seismic Data Analysis Centre, the Centre for Geological Research and Methodology and the Oil and Gas Research Centre for Improvement of Hydrocarbon Development Systems and Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques, will be engaged to provide front-end engineering and design services, develop and implement practical recommendations.

Training programmes aimed at retraining and professional development of Bashneft’s employees will be implemented by the Faculty of Geology in cooperation with the Graduate School of Innovative Business (a faculty of MSU).

Note: Main areas of cooperation between Bashneft and Lomonosov Moscow State University:

• development of software for seismic survey planning;
• development of new seismic data processing methods aimed at improving the reliability of identification of pay zones in low-permeability reservoirs;
• integrated interpretation of geological and geophysical data based on elastic petrophysical modelling and dynamic seismic analysis;
• development and adaptation of geomechanical simulation techniques;
• geological research on the genesis and spatial distribution of unconventional hydrocarbon resources in the Republic of Bashkortostan;
• volumetric, lithological, petrophysical and geochemical studies of unconventional reservoirs;
• experimental research on extraction of high-viscosity oil, free and bound hydrocarbons;
• specialist training as part of Master’s degree courses run by faculties of MSU;
• retraining and professional development of the Company’s specialists;
• development of new corporate training programmes.