KAZAKHSTAN UPSTREAM OIL AND GAS technology and R&d ...

It would be realistic to expect the Kazakhstan
government/industry R&D planning process to
be founded on the established principles used
to plan and manage R&D by many large
technology-oriented companies. Translated
onto a national scale, the process might be
run along the following lines:
n The major operators and service
companies would each outline their
views on the prime challenges faced by
their organisations on an annual basis
– they would be encouraged to provide
information on the nature and status of the
challenge, its urgency and the size of the
prize.
n The information, once analysed and
consolidated, would be made widely
available to the academic community and
used to shape R&D proposals.
n Good proposals would be likely to feature
international and in-country academic
partnerships; they would also contain
well-developed project cost estimates and
timeframes, and go as far as describing
technology demonstration and field trials
requirements.
n Proposals received positively would be
progressed in the first place by (1) a
sharing of relevant data and information
from the industry side with the R&D
proposer and (2) the setting of suitable
milestones and key performance indicators.
n Assuming good progress of the work,
it would be incumbent on the industry
organisation that set the challenge to
facilitate field trials of the new technology
solution.
n The reasons behind unsuccessful proposals
would be made clear and used to drive
improvements in the sections of the
academic community involved.
The process just outlined addresses a number
of the issues judged by participants
in the roadmapping project to be hindering
R&D in Kazakhstan – lack of focus, limited
collaboration, poor understanding by the
academic community of the challenges and
the opportunities within the industry, and the
difficulty of fixing up field trials were foremost
among them. Additional enablers highlighted
during the course of the roadmapping
project include the provision of guidance to
academics on the commercialization of R&D;
the relaxation of local content regulations
in selected emerging technology areas;
measures to ease the import of equipment
for R&D purposes and field trials; and a
facilitation of visits,
perhaps extended stays, by international
technology experts. The establishment of
centres of excellence and technology parks
was another measure favoured by many in
the industry. Finally, there was a call for better
understanding of international patent law and
clearer recognition of intellectual property
rights.
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Kazakhstan Upstream oil and gas technology and R&D roadmap