The grant is a bilateral offer by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The NNSFC has already confirmed its support to the applicants. The results will be announced in early 2018.

“Not long ago we, by the invitation of our colleagues, visited the Sinopec Exploration and Production Research Institute. This entity is in charge of shale oil and heavy oil research. This summer, we applied for the grant, so the main objective of the trip was to discuss cooperation details,” says Vladimir Morozov, Chair of the Department of Mineralogy and Lithology.

The project will be based on KFU's achievements in geological reconstruction of regimes of sedimentary basins. The reconstruction process determines the approximate temperature and pressure in the oil-bearing strata at the time when they actually produced petroleum. The method can be applied to select effective boosts for contemporary oil extraction.

Dr. Morozov explains, “We shared some results in heavy oil extraction with our colleagues, including those considering bitumen and Domanic formations. Sinopec executives opined that a revolution in shale oils can be made if KFU’s knowledge and Sinopec’s practical experience are combined.”

The Chinese oil giant’s management plans to arrive to KFU soon to familiarize with everything on site.