The interaction between Iranian and St. Petersburg universities is progressing both thoroughly and rapidly. It would seem that these two definitions should contradict each other, especially in the field of serious research, but in this case, these are certainly compatible parameters. It happens in science.
Six months ago, the first visit of Russian miners took place in the capital of the "oil-bearing granary" of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the city of Shiraz, where they got acquainted with the infrastructure and scientific developments of scientists from the south of the country.
Then there was a second trip, the program of which included lectures on cybersecurity, and a trip to Tehran, to the Scientific Research Institute of the Iranian Oil Industry (RIPI). It is one of the world's largest organizations engaged in the development of innovations in the field of hydrocarbon production and processing.
But most importantly, in a few months, joint research teams were formed with leaders from both sides on such topics as, for example, "Scientific and methodological justification of maximum permissible depressions in the development of weakly cemented oil reservoirs", or "Determination of energy and thermodynamic parameters of the mode of injection of carbon dioxide into the reservoir structures of oil fields". In fact, the words obscure to the ordinary reader hide projects whose production efficiency is estimated at tens of millions of dollars.
OPEC data indicate that Iran has the third largest proven oil reserves in the world. In total, there are over 20 billion tons of black gold in its depths. Iran also ranks third in terms of natural gas production - 256.7 billion cubic meters. At the same time, the oil recovery coefficient is only about 24% (in the Russian Federation it is on average 34%).
«Hydraulic fracturing technology is practically not used in Iranian fields, the development of which could double oil recovery. In addition, the profitability of production there ends at 25 percent of the water content in the oil. In Russia, this parameter, thanks to the introduction of advanced technologies, including those developed by scientists of the Mining University, can reach up to 98%," he told Outpost» Dean of the Oil and Gas Faculty of St. Petersburg University Dmitry Tananykhin said.
However, twelve scientific groups, whose roadmaps were also determined through regular teleconferences, deal not only with hydrocarbons, but also with ore bodies, metallurgy, ecology, electrical engineering and economics.
And now, in turn, a landing party of Iranian professors and representatives of the Organization of Mining Engineers of the province of Fars on the banks of the Neva River. The goal is to get acquainted with the partner's infrastructure, and to make detailed adjustments to the launched projects.
The Sablino educational and scientific training ground is intended for both undergraduate and postgraduate practices, as well as for testing by Mining partner companies of new equipment produced under import substitution programs. Two wells have been drilled here, vertical and inclined, into which casing strings have been lowered and cementing has been carried out.
The park of modern technology is able to impress any professional. This is a mobile installation for drilling with a rotor and downhole motors of production and exploration wells up to 2,700 meters deep, and a lifting installation for development, routine maintenance and overhaul of wells, and a circulation system of the drilling rig, which includes a complex of equipment for the preparation, processing and storage of drilling mud, and much more. The guests highly appreciated the possibilities of comprehensive training of students, since at any field they can practice only on a limited number of units and devices. The potential of the training ground is up to a thousand students from Iran per year.
The guests were also welcome at the Alfa Horizon site. Its specialists develop in their own laboratories and produce in their own workshops various components for the lower completion systems of oil and gas wells, which are used in areas located directly in the production zone.
Shiraz University is extremely interested in the research results obtained by the scientific center for "Resource Processing" of St. Petersburg Mining University, which has developed its own technology for producing needle coke from petroleum raw materials using a modifier corresponding to premium foreign brands.
Needle coke is a structured carbon material used for the manufacture of graphite electrodes for high- and ultra-high-power arc steelmaking furnaces. The demand for it from the Iranian metallurgical industry is about one hundred thousand tons per year. The global metallurgy is gradually moving away from converters and open-hearths and coming to electric furnaces that allow not only to melt scrap, but also to produce high-quality steel and aluminum.
The Islamic State has seven percent of the world's mineral resources. According to the most conservative estimates, this is 770 billion dollars (excluding hydrocarbons). The parties agreed to organize permanent two-week educational courses for the management and engineering staff of mining enterprises in Fars province on the basis of the Mining Institute. In total, these are 62 areas, such as open-pit and underground mining, mine transport and heavy-duty machinery, geoecology, occupational safety and industrial safety.
«The Iranian side sees this as a series of theoretical lectures and practical exercises on simulators of Caterpillar mining equipment and heavy-duty quarry transport at the BelAZ competence center, visits to the mining ranges in Sablino, Vodokanal, and operating mining enterprises», -The vice-rector for Special programs of the Mining University Marat Rudakov said.
Iranians are interested in the experience of working in Antarctica, methods of geological exploration at great depths, modernization of mining equipment and methods of its use, including the intellectualization of transport logistics and modeling of drive systems of mining machines.
A separate visit for the head of the Organization of Mining Engineers of Fars province, Mohammad Hussein Arafat, was organized at the Gavrilovo quarry department.
Despite the political difficulties, Persian geologists are also interested in the possibility of practical training in Crimea, on the basis of the Beregovoye Mining Complex. Here you can master the techniques of geological surveying, learn how to correctly arrange the description of the observation point of the outcrop of bedrock, create geological maps. In turn, St. Petersburg scientists and students will be able to explore the landscape of southern Iran.
Joint projects currently have a planning horizon of three to five years. In addition to economic efficiency, publication activities will also serve as indicators of their success. The bar for each international group is at least three published articles in journals indexed in Scopus (Q1–Q2) or WoS with high citation rates. For example, the "Notes of the Mining Institute" have just the first quartile.
Articles are also published in the journals of the Islamic Scientific Citation Index ISC, which is an analogue of the Russian RSCI, but, unlike it, as well as Scopus and WoS, ISC is a state database. Its data and ratings are one of the most important indicators in the allocation of scientific funding to universities in Iran.
During the visit, an agreement was reached with the President of the Institute of Scientific Citation and the Observatory of Science and Technology, Mr. Seyed Ahmad Fazelzade, on the inclusion of the "Notes of the Mining Institute" in the ISC database, mutual promotion of scientific works and their citation, the inclusion of Mining in the rankings of universities in Islamic countries.
In parallel with the faculty and production staff, senior students and graduate students from Shiraz University arrived in the city on the Neva River to participate in the summer school "Modern trends in the oil and gas industry". The classes provided in the program are devoted to such topics as "Modern well drilling technologies", including in deposits with abnormally low or, conversely, high reservoir pressure, "Carbon footprint minimization", "Offshore field development". A large group of St. Petersburg students will soon travel to Iran on a similar topic. The regularity of such exchanges is provided for by cooperation agreements between partner universities.
In addition, the outcome of the working meetings was an agreement on the opening of Russian language courses at Shiraz University, a specialized auditorium of the Empress Catherine II Mining University, and the creation of a Russian-Iranian cybersecurity laboratory under the auspices of the Center for Digital Technologies of the St. Petersburg University. And, of course, the practical implementation of a training program for a group of Iranian graduate students, which provides not only the preparation and defense of a dissertation, but also a deep mastery of pedagogical competencies.
The impressions of the delegation's five-day stay in the city on the Neva River were shared by its head, Vice-rector for Research and Technology at Shiraz University, Dr. Ali Hafizi:
«Both my colleagues and I are impressed by the infrastructure of the Russian university. There is a high school of engineering in everything here, based on many years of experience and excellent technological equipment. Even such dormitories and sports equipment, which hundreds of students are engaged in, we have not seen anywhere else in other countries. And, of course, the professionalism of colleagues. I believe that there are two factors that will help us continue our cooperation in the future. The first is a mutual ideology, both in relation to the profession and in relation to what is happening in the world. The second is the atmosphere of trust.
We have organized a roadmap for the coming years of cooperation. It includes: joint research groups that meet the needs of industry in both countries, holding summer and winter schools for students annually in Russia and Iran, using the polygons of the Mining University by specialists and students from Iran, educational programs and practical events for geologists and mining engineers, and some other areas of cooperation».
Rector of the Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko outlined the geopolitical paradigm of the agreements being implemented:
«In the horizon for several decades ahead, it is obvious that energy resources will remain the main condition for maintaining the stability of the economy of any state. Or rather, free access to relatively cheap electricity. This is the foundation for the development of agriculture, mechanical engineering, metallurgy and any other industry. Europe is gradually cutting itself off from Russian oil and gas, and its industry is deteriorating. Digital technologies and the service sector alone will never be able to ensure the progress of society. The Global South understands this perfectly well. China, India, and Latin America, on the contrary, are aimed at self-development.
Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are self–sufficient countries that, under unprecedented pressure, give the whole world a model not of survival, but of courage and perseverance. The cornerstone of the policy of both powers is the strengthening of state sovereignty, which is based on natural resources. They will always be in demand where the strategic line of states is not political demagoguery, but mutually beneficial cooperation».
All of the above is probably the answer to the question why the program of scientific and educational cooperation between Shiraz and St. Petersburg Universities is being implemented within the framework of the Mobile Intelligence project. The basis of this concept from any dictionary, in addition to inductive, deductive and abstract thinking, is the ability to learn without recognizing boundaries. That is, the ability of the human mind to create new mechanisms of progress through collective efforts.
