Kazakh Institute of Oil and Gas seeks to be on a par with world's leading scientific and engineering companies, Uzakbai Karabalin
Could you please tell about the history of your institute?
The company was established by the Government Resolution in December 2002 and is a subsidiary company of JSC National Company KazMunaiGas. Today it is composed of such basic institutions as JSC Scientific-Research and Design Institute Caspimunaigas (Atyrau), JSC KazNIPImunaygas (Aktau), LLP Scientific-Research Institute Caspimunaigas (Atyrau), JSC Petrodata Kazakhstan (Almaty). Over the years, the Kazakh Institute of Oil and Gas (KING) has become the leading design and research center in oil and gas industry, which unites leading research institutes and design companies. KING was able to not only preserve but also enrich the experience of more than a century-old oil industry in Kazakhstan.
What are the main activities of the Institute at present?
In recent years, KING has worked mainly as a design institute. To reach the level of modern scientific and engineering operations, we are accelerating and developing the research system, forming the base of our technologies and know-how through the use of specialized research centers. As part of the engineering work we carry out large-scale diversification of the range of works, introduce modern approaches to improving productivity and organization of relevant software and hardware complex.
We work closely with the world's biggest companies using the mechanisms of joint ventures and joint consideration of technological capabilities of oil and gas sector. The most important here is not the number of joint ventures, but maximum satisfaction of interests of the Kazakh side. Among them - minimizing production risks, rapid and direct learning to use modern technologies, building up databases of innovative design solutions, enhancing opportunities for dynamic development of KING's competitiveness in the global market.
This year we have become a party to a joint venture with the companies Fluor, Worley Parsons and GazGiproNefteGas. Our joint enterprise will work on the project of the future development of TengizChevroil. We also plan to expand the range of engineering services in the fields of energy efficiency of oil and gas facilities, development and implementation of modern software, development of laboratory and research facilities, etc. Here, our partners are well-known companies from France, China, Russia and other countries. Together with Shell our institution participated in the development of a Contour Plan of the technological development of Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry.
For the first time since independence we have started a comprehensive work to study the full range of technical and technological problems in the field of hydrocarbon exploration and production. A special roadmap for implementation of the Contour Plan is being developed. Till 2015 we plan to increase labor productivity at least twofold. This year more than 90 of our engineers have been trained to use 3D-design technology.
What achievements and projects the Kazakh Institute of Oil and Gas is known for?
Our institute can be considered a competence center for Kazakh oil and gas sector. In 2010 KING and its institutions developed about 300 engineering and scientific-research projects. I think the same amount of work is done this year. Our institute participated in the development of almost all big projects of the main oil and gas pipelines in Kazakhstan. The most important projects were the design of Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline, Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil pipeline, and Kazakh 1500-km section of Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline.
One of the innovative projects is the development of technology for producing building and road construction materials on the basis of sulfur-containing composites and binding agents. The use of nano-dispersed sulfur, which has hydrophobic properties, allows to obtain high-quality building materials from low-grade natural raw materials, which are sorely needed in the western region of the country.
What are the future prospects of the institute?
Currently, we are busy with refitting the associated institutes in Aktau and Atyrau. Foundation of an oil and gas scientific research centre inside the territory of the Innovation Technologies Park free economic area will become another branch of the complex. Regional laboratories will be focused on collection, storage and processing of initial information. KING scientific research centre organizes in-depth laboratory and analytical works in the context of fundamental and applied science. In the future, the centre will be geared to generation and transfer of both system-wide and certain local technological innovations.
To date we hear informed criticism of the development of the country's geology. KING, it is turn, strives to give a new impetus to the oil and gas geology. I would like to highlight the important project we implement through the request of KazMunaiGas National Company on the integrated study of the country's stand-by tanks. We managed to concentrate potential practically of all the leading geologists of Kazakhstan. This project will help us reveal new opportunities for prospecting at Prikaspiisky, Ustyurt-Buzashinsky and Mangyshlak basins and explore thoroughly prospective oil and gas properties the countrywide.
KING as an oil and gas scientific engineering company tends to be on par with the world's leading scientific and engineering companies. We believe in the future of Kazakhstan's oil and gas science. We will exert every effort to increase year-after-year the number of breakthrough projects put into service.
Thank you for the interview.
