Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre at Imperial College

The Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Centre (QCCSRC) was established to investigate key challenges in gas and oil production in Qatar and build local capacity in this area of expertise. The Centre operates at Imperial College London, and is funded by Qatar Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell plc, and the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP). Imperial College London is a research-based university specializing in natural sciences, engineering, medicine and business. Founded in 1907, Imperial has about 14,000 full-time students and 3000 academic staff of which 1000 are permanent faculty who teach 242 courses. The College has a turnover of approx. £800, and was ranked 8th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2013. Qatar Petroleum was created in 1974 with the overall objective to maximize the national wealth of the State of Qatar through the exploitation of Qatar's hydrocarbon reserves. Specifically, Qatar Petroleum seeks to provide the nation with a reliable cash flow of maximum value from diversified business interests connected to hydrocarbons; to build an organization with internationally competitive business and technical expertise; to maximize the employment of capable Qatari nationals, and develop their skills to a level comparable to the leading international oil companies; and to meet national oil and gas demand in a cost-effective way. Royal Dutch Shell is a major international energy corporation. Having invested over $20 billion in Qatar since 2005, it is the country’s largest foreign investor, and works closely with Qatar Petroleum in extracting Qatar’s hydrocarbon reserves. Shell has sought to strengthen its commitment to this location by promoting employment for Qatari nationals and engaging with local universities. Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) is Qatar’s national agency charged with executing applied research and delivering commercialized technologies in four areas: 2014 88 energy, environment, health sciences, and information and communication technologies, and has a remit to promote economic and human capital development in Qatar. Royal Dutch Shell is an anchor tenant in the Park. QSTP comprises 45,000 square meters of multi-user buildings, fitted with offices, laboratories and business facilities, on 120 hectares of designated land. The 10-year QCCSRC research centre was established in 2008. The QCCSRC’s major objectives are to conduct novel geoscience applied to Qatar’s geological specificities, to support new methods of carbon capture, and develop local talent in Qatar in the wider field of geosciences and engineering. The centre involves over 40 academic staff, postdoctoral researchers and PhD students, drawn mostly from two Imperial departments, the department of Earth Science and Engineering, and the department of Chemical Engineering. Its work programme is structured into five streams. The first stream addresses fundamental research into the geology of oil reservoirs, while the second stream focuses more on the chemistry and physics of the interaction between the rock reservoirs and the fluids they contained. The third stream seeks to integrate the preceding two streams into a mathematical simulation of the behaviour of fluids in various reservoir conditions. The fourth stream takes the data from the simulator and validates it in field experiments, leading to the fifth and final work stream, which involves the creation of a demonstration project in an oil field incorporating the findings from the previous streams of work. The centre is led by a Director and overseen by a Management Committee which is chaired by a QP representative and including representatives from Imperial and Shell. The Management Committee is responsible for the overall governance of the centre including finance and budgetary approval, as well as the approval of outline work plans. In addition, the centre has a Technical Committee, which is again chaired by a QP representative, with other members drawn from the university and Shell. The technical committee is charged with the creation of the work plans, the definition of project plans and staffing, and with the technical oversight of on-going research. Alongside the director, a programme manager is employed to co-ordinate activities including the compilation of a quarterly management report detailing the work of the Centre, progress against targets and detailed financial metrics. We conducted seven interviews with key informants involved in the QCCSRC, representing both the industrial and academic context, and including PhD students. Each interview lasted between 20 to 60 minutes. Along with face-to-face interviews we analyzed a series of secondary materials (such as web sites) with the aim to triangulate different sources of data. We also used a body of transcripts of 20 interviews that one of the case study authors had conducted in 2011 with the objective to learn about the nature of the collaboration, its success factors and outcomes, and the benefits and challenges experienced by the various stakeholders.