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- Published on Tuesday, 10 December 2013 11:52
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NIKOLAY VICTOROVICH
LOPATIN
Interview
with
Nikolay V. Lopatin is the first chapter of the
“Wildcat“ project.
Nikolay Lopatin is the author of the world brand
“Lopatin’s
Method”. In 2008 he was awarded
with the
Special Award of American Association of Petroleum Geologists for his
discovery
of the most important principles of formation and migration of oil and
gas. The
method for catagenetic maturity estimation by using time-temperature
index (TTI)
had been successfully used for more than 20 years in different
countries. Then
it was developed in EasyR0 model proposed by Sweeney and Burnham in
1990.
Nikolay Lopatin talks on his life, first steps in
science
and achievements giving accent to special role of his great heaven-born
teacher
Nikolay Bronislavovich Vassoievich, who played a big role in his life.
Two
main
problems of the petroleum science in Russia, which prevent the
functional
evolution are clearly defined by Lopatin in a conclusion.
EDUCATION
My
family and I come from Stalingrad (Volgograd).
I was an eyewitness of the
heroic defense of the Stalingrad. I still
remember the eyes of German military aviator, who bombed
our stemboat, carrying
women and children in Astrakhan… My biggest dream was to
enter the Air Force
Academy but, unfortunately, I flunked the centrifuge. Then
I entered the North-Caucasus Mining Institute
(Vladikavkaz), which I graduated from in 1961. After graduation I
returned to
Volgograd, where I worked for a short period of time as a driller
assistant,
playing a primitive role - dragging drilling pipes. Then new institute, VolgogradNIPIneft,
was established and I moved there to study petrophysical properties via
log analysis,
primarily carbonate rocks. I worked there for 4 years.
One day I came across
publication in a newspaper on recruitment in Postgraduate School in
Moscow
State University. Honestly speaking, I understood that there was little
chance
for me to pass the exams because I was mining geologist. But the fate
decreed
another way.
Firstly,
I
wrote an abstract then I had an interview with professor Igor Vysotsky.
And for some reason he liked me and
admitted to the exams. I passed all three exams with excellent marks.
There
were only five vacancies and six candidates. I was the sixth. The rest
were insiders,
"their own." I was sure, I would not pass but prof. Vassoievich rose
and said: “It is Lopatin, who should be taken in the first
instance”. That's
how I became a graduate student at the Department of Geology and
Geochemistry
of Combustible Minerals.
MSU Postgraduate School - 1968. I worked like a
tiger; I
attended classes in the Institute of Coal Chemistry and the Chemistry
Department of Moscow State University, the MSU Philosophy Faculty, the
department of dialectical materialism, where I studied logic and
methodology. A
year and a half later I proposed a methodology to assess the kinetics
of
chemical reactions, thermal cracking of kerogen. However, it would
never happen
but for one thing. On the second day I went out into the corridor of
our
department of Moscow State University, and heard a loud laughter. It
was
Vassoievich.
THE
TEACHERS
Nikolay
Bronislavovich Vassoievich. His mother was a German, and his father - a
Prince
of Montenegro. They
handed son Slavic breadth, vigor and
generosity of nature in conjunction with the German tochnochstyu,
reliability
and clarity.He had a sincere response to everything as opposite to
modern
scientists. Unusually honest, gifted, Vassoievich was a man who
completely
devoted himself to the science. He was extremely famous and well known
in
scientific community. He
had a conversation with almost the whole world. He
received articles from all over the world, and everyone asked him to
make at
least half a page response. He refused to no one, making up to 100 reviews a
week. As soon as some
thought came to his mind, he immediately shared it with everyone,
absolutely
without any ulterior motive.
Someday
it was needed to write a review of the huge monograph. That day he
said:
"You are the one, who will help me and our department." 2 weeks (only
once a day to have a meal) of hard work reveals in 500-600 pages of
review with
pictures. When he arrived, he understood that we both were probably cut
from
the same cloth. He realized that he was dealing with a competent man,
the one
he could rely on. It was a greatest praise and thus a possibility to do
science
under the leadership of a great scientist. And the first lesson of
morality I
got when I brought the first article with his surname at the first
place. Nicholay
Bronislavovich smiled and said that he did not need 302th paper, and
then
crossed out his name... Such attitude to authorship was normal for
Nicholay
Bronislavovich, but in outstanding articles, especially for the
congresses and
meetings he has entered many people.
After
success with the review Vassoievich involved me in further works at his
place. Where
I recognized his strict regime of work. Every single day we worked from
4 a.m.
till 10.30 a.m. at home with a light breakfast at 6. Then we went to
office.
Five typists worked for him at the department day and night and could
not to
deal with all the work. There also were foreign secretaries, who sent
out
letters all over the world. The whole factory! Nikolay Bronislavovich
usually
finished his work at 9 p.m. and had a rest for 40 minutes. He used to
watch
humorous program for about thirty minutes every day. Such a rabid
performance!
He infected everyone around with his energy, and was always ready to
help. I
wrote more than 20 articles during these two years. They were posted in
famous
soviet scientific journal, from where they became known abroad.
N.B. (his
secret nickname among colleagues) was not only the father of
“The Theory on
Sedimentary Migration Origin of Oil” as well as
historical-genetic approaches
of the study of sedimentary basins. The basin and petroleum system
modeling ideology
also defined by this approach and then was developed further in the
works of
his “apostles” Dietrich Welte and Bertrand Tissot.
The
uniqueness of Nicholay Vassoievich was lying in multidisciplinary
vision of the
object of research that will later be called "the work on the
intersection
of science’s branches". Books and scientific articles on
philosophy,
linguistics, biology, philology, and ancient history were standing on
his
table. Hence, Vassoievich always required a clear definition of the
terms used.
In this sense, Nikolai Bronislavovich showed no mercy. Of course, and I
went. I
caught also it, of course…
A
sense of humor was another amazing quality of Vassoievich that helps
him out with
dignity from various conflicts.
The
role of this highly professional and honorable man in my scientific
destiny cannot
be overestimated.
Nikolay
Bronislavovich started as a field geologist. "Flysch and the
Methodology
of its Study" and all great monographs on the flysch were written by
Vassoievich with terrible thoroughness! He studied Caucasus flysch from
Azov to
Baku: 945 layers were described in the North-Western Caucasus and 735
of them
were traced to Baku. Such a tremendous amount of work has no analogues
in the
world. Actually, he started to deal with the petroleum science when he
was
sixty. The department passed through high noon after his moving to
Moscow State
University in 1963 from VNIGRI (St. Petersburg). He became a
сorresponding
member of the Academy of Science a much time latter, though he was a
true
academician in fact.
I
should name
two Germans among my teachers: Dietrich Welte and Marlies Teichmuller,
extremely responsive and open persons. Their studies provided the basis
for the
paper “Temperature and Geological Time as Factors of
Carbonification”, which
made my name in oil geochemistry. I have often had productive meetings
in
Germany with them.
"Petroleum
Geochemistry and Geology", a fundamental work of a world-class
scientist
John Hunt made an indelible impression on me. He was a leading expert
in the
search for new ideas and was known throughout the geological world. I
was
fortunate to closely communicate with him first in Volgograd, and then
several
times in Moscow. His book is always on my desk.
Strong
support
and practical help in my research was provided by outstanding French
scientist
Jean Espitalie, whom I consider a friend.
N.
Vassoievich
passed away at 24 of November of 1981 and my theoretical life came out
with
him. I switched to the solution of practical problems of geology and
geochemistry of oil and gas, first in GEOKHI USSR, and then in
VNIIgeosystem.
Such goal was long time ago defined by Vassoievich: "Modern oil science
has
to light the way for exploration."
REALIZED
PROJECTS
In
line with the big number of practical works
of generation potential assessment of different areas of Russia, I can
highlight a three significant theoretical works:
- Lopatin, N.V. (1971) Temperature and
Geological Time as Factors of Carbonification. Akad. Nauk SSSR., Izs.
Ser.
Geol., 3,
95-106;
- Lopatin, N.V., (1983) Formation
of fossil fuels. Nedra. Moscow, 192 p.
- Lopatin, N.V., Emets
T.P. (1987) Pyrolysis in oil-gas geochemistry. Nauka. Moscow, 144 p.
MODERN
EXPLORATION PROBLEMS
Firstly, we can observe
the obvious “everydayness” of science. Formerly, we
were continuously engaged
in theoretical generalizations, intensifications. Today we have only
very local
tasks.
The second is the decreasing
of quality of higher education and the lack of devotion to science.
5
WELLS
In
the nearest future main prospects for giant
and super-giant hydrocarbon field discoveries within Russian Federation
are associated
with the following sedimentary basins (sub-basins).
1. South Kara Basin
Horizons, prospects: Mesozoic
deposits
2. Baikit anteclise
Horizons, prospects: The most
ancient Riphean sedimentary formations
3. South
Barents Basin
Horizons, prospects: Mesozoic
deposits