Mitacs partners with University of Calgary and Kerui Group to advance energy research

Calgary, AB — Mitacs, a national not-for-profit research and training organization; the University of Calgary; and Kerui Group, a private oil and gas company in China, announce a new partnership that aims to drive energy research in China and around the world. 

Projects will examine the development of unconventional oil and gas, which are natural resources such as shale gas, coal-bed methane, and oil sands bitumen. Research will aim to produce fundamental geological and petrophysical insights, improve enhanced recovery processes, and improve knowledge of potential environmental consequences. 

The partnership, which was announced earlier this week at an event in Beijing, China, will pair researchers from the University of Calgary with Kerui Group for research internships. The initiative will provide 20 university graduate students and postdocs with opportunities to gain hands-on research experience at a site in Beijing. They will work at a state-of-the-art lab facility was established in 2014 by the University of Calgary and Kerui Group.

The collaboration represents $1.35M in research funding, making it Mitacs’ largest Alberta-based project to date.

Quotes:

Alejandro Adem, CEO and Scientific Director, Mitacs

“Our partnership with the University of Calgary and Kerui Group emphasizes the importance of building global research networks to drive innovation. Researchers at the University of Calgary will have opportunities to receive professional experience while tackling R&D challenges in the field of unconventional oil and gas.

Professor Ian Gates, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary

“I’m very excited to take part in this new joint research initiative with the University of Calgary, Kerui Group, and Mitacs. Working on an international collaboration with an organization like Mitacs enables U of C researchers to build a diverse set of core skills in a professional setting.”

Quick facts:

• Mitacs is a national not-for-profit organization led by Canadian universities that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for more than 17 years.
• Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and federal and provincial governments, Mitacs builds partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.

Links:

• For information about Mitacs and our programs, see mitacs.ca/newsroom

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Photo: Researchers from the University of Calgary, Tsinghua University, and China University of Petroleum, with representatives from Kerui Group.