The Federal University of Pernambuco (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - UFPE) and the Energi Simulation, a not-for-profit company based in Calgary (Canada), renewed the partnership for the Industrial Research Chair in Reservoir Modeling and Robust Optimization, by signing a new sponsorship agreement on November 1st, 2020. The document was signed by UFPE’s Chancellor, Alfredo Gomes, and the president of Energi Simulation, Duke Anderson, in Recife and Calgary.

With major emphasis on the petroleum industry, the Industrial Research Chair has been led by the Postgraduate Program in Civil Engineering (PPGEC) at UFPE (Campus Recife), whereas the main activities take place at LITPEG (The Integrated Energy, Oil and Gas Laboratory), also located at UFPE’s main campus. The research group is composed by 10 professors and 40 postgraduate students from distinct fields of study, such as Engineering, Geology, Mathematics and Computer Science. In addition to conducting research, the group also focus on specialized training in reservoir simulations.

The studies developed so far can be potentially used in different areas as well. “For instance, we deal with issues of large amount of information that comes from monitoring the variables (flow, pressure, temperature and concentration) of highly instrumented reservoirs and wells. In order to filter and elucidate such amount of data, we developed algorithms based on artificial intelligence and deep learning to help the engineer to make quick decisions. These algorithms can be applied in many fields other than that of petroleum industry, such as automation and control of industrial plants or the development of mobile applications ”, said Professor Leonardo José do Nascimento Guimarães, linked to the Department of Civil Engineering and PPGEC, also responsible for the Chair’s program at UFPE.

Issues related to environmental protection are also considered in the research works. “Among them, there is the subsurface storage of CO², one of the main greenhouse gases, in porous geological formations and/or caves built in saline rocks using the dissolution mining technique. Moreover, our research on the reactivation of geological faults and the examination on the impact of reinjection of water produced in saline aquifers allows the industry to operate with a higher level of environmental safety”, explained Professor Leonardo Guimarães.

By supporting UFPE through a sponsorship agreement, Energi Simulation merges the academia with the industry sector. The lately renewed partnership results in a per-year Canadian $180,000 funding package, which input will be duly monitored by FADE-UFPE  (UFPE Development Support Foundation) during the three-year validity period of the agreement.

“The partnership signed between the two entities enhances our internationalization efforts, as well as the role of UFPE in the international framework. Interestingly, in the past year, UFPE has been signing more and more partnerships and this latest reneweal is an apt example”, highlighted UFPE's Director of International Affairs, Madson Góis Diniz. "It portrays the recognition of Professor Leonardo [Guimarães]’s work and also, the recognition of an institutional realignment presented by UFPE", he added.

The Industrial Chair for Research in Reservoir Modeling and Robust Optimization was launched 11 years ago, when UFPE was referred by one of its partners, Petrobras, to the Energi Simulation. Since then, a collaborative work with the Canadian foundation has supported 87 postgraduate students with scholarships and research grants for studies on numerical simulation of oil reservoirs. Additionally, the team has also been developing effective investigations on related areas.

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Professor Leonardo José do Nascimento Guimarães
leonardo.guimaraes@ufpe.br