OREANDA-NEWS. On December 06, 2007 Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, JSC TNK-Management, and Royal Holloway and Bedford New College at University of London signed an agreement of cooperation aimed at establishment of an advanced training center for specialists in the field of geology and geophysics, reported the press-centre of ТNK-ВР.

Sergey Turenko, Vice Principal for Education and Information Technologies, Tyumen State Oil and Gas University, said that he first met Richard Herbert, Executive Vice President, Technology Division, TNK-BP Management, exactly a year ago when the university and TNK-BP discussed possible lines of cooperation. “It took Mr. Herbert only two weeks to make a decision on the direction and form of further cooperation. The purpose of the cooperation agreement signed today is to improve the quality of training of oil and gas specialists that may choose to start working at TNK-BP,” noted Mr. Turenko.

According to Mr. Turenko, Tyumen State Oil and Gas University was to choose a partner educational institution and, after a tough selection, chose Royal Holloway at University of London.

Mr. Turenko explained that the tripartite agreement signed at Tyumen State Oil and Gas University implies creating a new center for geology and geophysics, opening a branch of Royal Holloway in Tyumen, and adopting a master program at the Tyumen State Oil and Gas University.

Chris Elders, representative of Royal Holloway, noted that the experience of working with Tyumen State Oil and Gas University will be very interesting for everyone at Royal Holloway as this is the first case of close cooperation of the British university with universities in other countries. “We think that the program has a tremendous potential for having a beneficial impact on the oil and gas sector of the region and whole country. We are impatiently waiting for the moment to start teaching here and make our contribution to the oil and gas industry of the Russian Federation,” emphasized Mr. Elders.

Richard Herbert, Executive Vice President, Technology Division, TNK-BP Management, added that the management of TNK-BP is very glad to have signed this agreement: “Today, we feel like we have married two young people. Our role in this marriage will grow lesser, whereas the brunt of the work will be done at the universities of Tyumen and London.” Mr. Herbert said that implementation of the program of tripartite cooperation implies, first of all, further development and strengthening of Tyumen State Oil and Gas University. For TNK-BP, strong ties between the universities mean a higher level of education and training of young specialists.

The first 20 students will join the program in September 2008. TNK-BP will pay for the education and training of these students. Tyumen students will be trained abroad and take advanced courses at University of London.