No. 2, 2008

Oil of Russia magazine talks to Prof. Stanislav Meshcheryakov, Dr. Sc. (Technology), Head of the Industrial Ecology Chair of the I.M. Gubkin Russian State Oil and Gas University

Q: The National Center of Environmental Management and Clean Production for the Oil and Gas Industry will soon mark its tenth anniversary. Why was it established?

A: It was established in December 1999 on the initiative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and by the decision of the Russian Government. The National Center of Environmental Management and Clean Production for the Oil and Gas Industry was set up on the basis of the I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. For the first time in the UNIDO’s practice a specialized center designed to solve problems in the oil and gas industry was set up using an intellectual resource of the Gubkin University. The UNIDO’s decision made it possible for the Center to address efficiently and professionally not only the environmental problems of the oil-and-gas complex but also some special technical issues associated with the development and introduction of new technologies and adapt them to the company-specific conditions.

Q: Who were the founders of the Center?

A: Our Center was established under the auspices of the UNIDO pursuant to the decision of the Russian Government. Preparatory work went on for five years. At the United Nations Industrial Development Organization we are regarded as a “center project,” and in Russia we have been registered as a fund called “The National Center of Environmental Management and Clean Production for the Oil and Gas Industry,” which allows us to be more independent from the West financially. Each founder makes contributions. The founders include: JSC Gazprom, the Energy Ministry of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology of the Russian Federation, JSC Insurance Company LUKOIL, JSC Resources and Technological Enterprises, and our university. Contributions also come from the Fund members – Astrakhangazprom, Orenburggazprom and Varyeganneft companies – in which we implement our programs.

Q: What purposes does your Center pursue and what services do you offer to Russian oil and gas companies?

A: It was largely our personnel who worked out the methodology of interaction with the industry. As a result, when it came to putting the idea into practice that involved compilation of a data bank by concrete technologies taking account of specific features of a production, it turned out that purely methodological findings were not enough. The approach to implementing clean production is a standard one: it involves a methodology and introspection. The next stage requires experts. In this respect our Center is unique: it is still the only center in the world that has been established on the basis of a university and that has its own specialists in various branches of science and production – from synthetic chemistry experts to mechanical engineers and geologists. At the Gubkin University we have departments which study such problems and which can find appropriate practical solutions and compile data bases of world technologies. We have been working for only two years, but have proved to be quite efficient.

The services which we render consist mainly in implementing demonstrable “cleaner production” projects by companies themselves under the guidance of international and national experts, designing investment mechanisms for the realization of technical solutions, adapting new technologies to company-specific conditions, training international “cleaner production” experts from among company employees and issuing international certificates to them, training international experts in environmental auditing, etc.

Q: How do you draft your programs? To what extent can you take into account the requirements of individual companies proceeding from the specifics of their production as well as their finances?

A: As a rule, we have one-year programs divided into several stages. We form working groups within the company, conduct workshops and, together with local specialists, make an assessment of conditions in accordance with the general methodology. Then we discuss possible technical solutions and endorse those which we find feasible, for not all of them can be implemented because of high costs or lack of the necessary technologies. For each of the approved proposals we draw up a business plan and a feasibility report.

The Center is unique due to our versatile technical knowledge in the oil and gas industry. On the other hand, our advantage lies not in the mere realization of technical solutions but in the fact that our program enables the company to incorporate clean production into its basic environmental policy, thereby achieving maximum environmental and economic efficiency. We believe that in order to attain their environmental goals companies’ environmental policies should involve the stages of correction, better management and certification. The correction part should to be dealt with in the “cleaner production” program, which results in the realization of technical and investment solutions arrived at in the process of implementing the program. The second stage consists in helping companies introduce environmental management and meet the international ISO 9000 (“green product”) standard. The last stage consists in the ecological certification of enterprises in accordance with the international ISO 1400 (“green enterprise”) standard.

Q: Do enterprises willingly agree to environmental auditing?

A: Environmental auditing presupposes a civilized attitude to production. It is mainly export-oriented companies that agree to undergo environmental auditing. An international certificate enables them to sell their products all over the world. Furthermore, we promote the positive image of enterprises and their corporate environmental culture. Projects are openly presented before the corporate expert panel; certified employees are awarded international certificates, which increases their self-esteem and new groups begin to form round them; and this goes on like a kind of chain reaction. But the most important thing is that a real improvement of labor conditions is taking place – to say nothing of a considerable economic effect. At Astrakhangazprom, for instance, this effect netted over 30 million rubles, and at Orenburggazprom, eight million rubles.

Q: Do you have projects in which petrochemical companies are involved?

A: Work with the petrochemical sector is just beginning. We have already concluded an agreement with SIBUR for conducting an environmental audit at the company’s operations in Perm.

Q: How does the activity of your Center dovetail with the academic process at the University?

A: We have an industrial ecology chair which will mark its tenth anniversary next year. Students, postgraduates and those working for a doctoral degree take an active part in the activity of the Center. The curriculum includes a course in “cleaner production” and environmental auditing. There is a general course in ecology at all of the University’s departments, while students of the industrial ecology chair have a more comprehensive curriculum.

Q: Do they find professional employment upon completing their course of study?

A: Practically all of them find employment in their field – in science or production. Today, every respectable enterprise has an environmental service.

Q: How does the Center cooperate with LUKOIL today?

A: I’m pleased to note that LUKOIL as one of our founders takes an active part in practically all of our initiatives. The Company is quite enthusiastic about our efforts in the field of “cleaner production” – the search for organizational, technical, economic and investment solutions leading to more efficient use of raw materials and energy and non-use of toxic and dangerous materials, prevention of industrial waste in order to reduce the risks involved in the operation of an enterprise both to man and to the environment. We hope that LUKOIL’s department for industrial safety, environmental protection and R&T will in the future take part in our projects, realizing that conservation is one of the company’s priority development areas. It is precisely LUKOIL, the leader of our industry, that we see among our main partners in the future.