Heriot-Watt recieves controversial oil company donation

Heriot-Watt University

Print article
Post to Facebook

Computer software valued at $35 million has been donated to Heriot-Watt University's Institute of Petroleum Engineering.

The reservoir-modelling software, donated by Norwegian oil and gas technology firm Roxar, will be used in research that will help oil and gas companies extract the maximum possible reserves from reservoirs. This software will overcome specific geological difficulties in individual oil and gas wells that can currently prevent this from happening.

Professor Mike Christie, Deputy Director of Heriot-Watt's IPE, said: "We are very pleased with Roxar's donation of 164 licenses to use for history matching and uncertainty quantification on our linux computer cluster.

“By working closely with Roxar, we hope to demonstrate the value of combining advanced software, modern cluster computing, and a sound understanding of theory to quantify uncertainty in reservoir performance prediction leading to better reservoir management."

Gunnar Hviding, CEO of Roxar, which specialises in both modelling software and measurement instruments for use in oil and gas extraction, said: "We are delighted to be working with Heriot-Watt and contributing to industry research in what we believe is a hugely important area of reservoir management."

The donation, however, has been controversial.

Some students have objected to the university's cooperation with a member of the oil industry on environmental grounds.

Rowan Muir, a fourth year Mechanical Engineering student at Heriot-Watt, told The Journal: “If all the oil and gas from even just the already-discovered reservoirs is used, it could push the global climate past the point of no return.

“All over the country renewable energy projects are being indefinitely brought to a halt due to a lack of funding.

“This latest donation is typical of the world-wide failure to put decent funding towards the areas that are crying out for money, those that are crucial to tackling climate change.”

Comment on this article

	You need to have an account to post comments.
	Enter your login details below to post, or sign up for an account
User name:
Password:
Comment: