PRH40.1 - GEOSCIENCES APPLIED TO THE OIL AND GAS SECTOR

• Grant number: 24/10498-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: Sergio Caetano Filho
• Grantee: Sergio Caetano Filho
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Geosciences Program Applied to the Oil and Gas Sector was structured into two emphases, Petroleum Geology and Environment & Petroleum, for the improvement of undergraduate, master's, doctoral and post-doctoral students, under the supervision of a visiting researcher and coordinator of the project. The two areas of improvement proposed arise from the continuous and growing demands made clear by the oil industry in recent years (areas of exploration, reservoirs and the environment). The two domains of knowledge constitute priority areas for this industry in the coming decades. The extensive exploration and movement of hydrocarbons in the Santos and Campos basins (Pre-Salt) will require new professionals for the development of large fields, as well as to care for the environment with potential impact by oil. Furthermore, there is always a strategic need to seek the discovery of new oil fields, which points to the imperative need to train new geologists to continue the exploration of Brazilian sedimentary basins. The perception of the current stage and future stages of the oil industry in Brazil justifies the implementation of this proposal. Specifically, the demands that UNESP has been receiving from the oil industry to carry out research projects exceed its capacity to meet them. This signals the growing vigor of the oil and gas sector, and the confidence that the Rio Claro geology school has gained within this sector. The projects under development will be able to offer new students opportunities to engage in priority thematic lines within the sector. The two improvement courses will allow for a healthy and productive interaction between 4th graders. and 5th. years with postgraduate students and will complement the regular undergraduate and postgraduate curricula. This guideline, added to the execution of the respective monographs, dissertations and theses, will give students the conditions to enter the job market at an adequate level to develop their activities in the Oil and Gas sector. In the scope of the southeast region, geology at UNESP of Rio Claro has effective and uninterrupted links with groups from CENPES, PETROBRAS-Rio, Consórcio Libra (exploration, reservoirs, environment) and with the geology team at PETROBRAS in Santos. The series of cooperative projects listed in the proposal demonstrate these active relationships. In addition to projects, the school often serves the oil sector by promoting and conducting field practices in the Paraná Basin. The Rio Claro geology school maintains close ties with UNICAMP - Cepetro, having already worked in partnership in human resources training programs for petroleum geoengineering professionals (PETROBRAS and Galp Energia). It also has relationships with other academic institutions in the Southeast (UFRJ, UFF, UERJ and USP), some of which are UNESP partnerships in courses held in Rio Claro involving the PRH, and due to geoscientific research and production of teaching material of interest to the Oil and Gas sector. INPE, IPT, CETESB etc. are other entities with which Rio Claro geology maintains productive contacts. Thus, the geology of Rio Claro is already a factor of regional impact in both areas covered in this proposal. Future scholarship holders, as with former PRH scholarship holders, will certainly be in demand by the Oil and Gas sector. Still with regard to the environment, state bodies that deal with environmental and oil issues will also benefit from the profile of new human resources, being able to supply its technical staff with former PRH scholarship holders. The training of highly specialized human resources to work in the oil and gas sector is expected, as well as the development of relevant research in the areas of petroleum geology and environment and petroleum. (AU)