The chair started training students in oil and gas field geology in 1980. The main objective of the chair is training highly qualified specialists in fundamental and applied areas of geology and geochemistry of oil and gas. This priority direction was launched by the founders of the chair: Academicians A.A. Trofimuk (Chair of Mineral Deposits), A.E. Kantorovich and Professor V.S. Vyshemirskiy.

The territory and water area of Siberia are considered the richest oil and gas regions in the world. More than 70% of Russian oil and 90% of gas are produced here. With time, the role of Siberia in oil and gas extraction will only increase. Therefore, the chair graduates have a lot of opportunities to work at industry and academic research institutes, geological prospecting and oil and gas companies.

The chair students attend basic natural science courses (mathematics, physics, chemistry, including organic chemistry, computer science) and study general geological disciplines (general geology, crystallography, mineralogy, petrography of sedimentary and crystalline rocks, structural geology, geology of caustobioliths and others).

Starting from the 2nd year, while preparing their Bachelor’s thesis students take special courses in petroleum chemistry, geochemistry of oil and gas, oil and gas bearing provinces, regional tectonics of oil and gas areas, search and exploration of oil and gas deposits, oil field geology, petroleum hydrogeochemistry, subsoil management, etc.

Particular attention is paid to studying the application of mathematical methods for solving geological problems and the latest computer technology. The chair has a software complex for modelling the history of sedimentary basins, interpretation of seismic data and the results of borehole geophysical survey.

During the study students do academic internships in Altai and Khakassia and have a field practicum in the West or East Siberia.

Starting with the 3rd year professional training of students is mainly held in the laboratories of Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics.

After four years of study and getting Bachelor’s degree in “Geology and geochemistry of fossil fuels”, best students continue studies within two-year master program “Geology and geochemistry of oil and gas”. Almost all the chair graduates majoring in oil (there are more than one hundred and seventy of them) successfully work in research institutes mostly in the base institutes of the Siberian Branch of RAS and Siberian Research Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineral Resources. Many graduates work at the leading Russian (Rosneft, Gazprom and others) and foreign (Total, Schlumberger, Petrobras and others) companies.