TAMUQ Hosts International Shale Gas Experts

Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) hosted shale gas experts from Qatar, Europe, the United States and Australia for a daylong symposium to present results of ShaleXenvironmenT, a multidisciplinary international research project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 program.

Securing abundant, affordable and clean energy is a critical scientific and technological challenge. Shale gas has emerged as a crucial piece of the energy puzzle, but exploitation of shale gas is challenging and its environmental footprint is poorly quantified.

The ShaleXenvironmenT project aims to assess the environmental footprint of shale gas exploitation in Europe and suggest ideas for approaches on managing shale gas exploitation, impacts and risks in Europe — and eventually worldwide.

About 80 people from Qatar’s local industry and academic institutions attended the symposium, which was chaired by Dr. Ioannis G. Economou, associate dean for academic affairs and a orofessor of chemical engineering at TAMUQ.

Economou said that shale gas and shale oil technology is transforming the energy industry worldwide, yet despite the growing interest for such technologies, there are still major challenges to be addressed at various levels.

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Economou said, “During this event, world-leading researchers presented state-of-the art developments in chemical engineering, petroleum engineering and geosciences related to the topic. There has been a great exchange of ideas that will hopefully lead to new R&D projects for the benefit of the country, the region and the world.”

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TAMUQ Dean Dr. César O. Malavé said, “Texas A&M University is in the forefront of new breakthrough developments in shale technology through research performed in its research centers and institutes. At Texas A&M at Qatar, we are proud to have strong partnerships with academic institutions and industry — in Qatar and around the world, and we aim to play a key role in creating sustainable solutions to real-world challenges by generating new knowledge through research and collaborative partnerships. We hope that this symposium provided a platform for creating synergy in the scientific communities in Qatar, Europe and elsewhere to forge new collaborative research initiatives for the future.”