French Ambassador Eric Chevallier joins Total E&P Qatar managing director Guillaume Chalmin and TRC-Q director Dr Philippe during a tour of the high-tech facility at QSTP.

Total has recently hosted French ambassador Eric Chevallier and other delegates from the French embassy at the Total Research Centre at Qatar (TRC-Q) to showcase its innovative research projects and research-based operations.
The ambassador and the delegates were welcomed by Dr Philippe Julien, director of TRC-Q, a state-of-the-art research centre based at Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP).
Julien introduced them to the fully-operational laboratories in geochemistry, acid stimulation, and petrochemicals. According to Julien, the research carried out in Doha was mainly dedicated to Qatar’s oil and gas challenges. He also explained that innovative research in the hydrocarbons industry “is now greatly benefitting from crossover technologies.”
Chevallier said: “I am pleased to see the initiatives undertaken by Total in delivering innovation and sharing their expertise. We are supportive of their contributions as a French company towards the development of Qatar.”
Guillaume Chalmin, managing director of Total E&P Qatar and Group representative, said: “We were delighted to receive Ambassador Eric Chevalier in our research centre, and we hope it was a rewarding visit. As we are close to celebrating our 80 years in Qatar, we would like to strongly highlight our commitment as an energy producer in cooperating with our key stakeholders through our various operations.”
Julien also said: “Finding and producing future barrels will require to tackle complex technological and environmental issues. New technologies are clearly needed. One way to accelerate their emergence is to look at other scientific domains. Indeed, innovation often comes from the interfaces between different disciplines.  Space industry, nanotechnologies, robotics, innovative biotechnologies, and advanced medical imaging, all these innovative domains are now beneficial to the oil and gas industry. We are proud to work and to share our results with our Qatari academic and industrial partners. This is a clear way to establish a knowledge-based economy”.
TRC-Q was established in 2009 with the aim of not only developing new technologies, but also producing innovations related to regional challenges and sharing them with Qatari partners. Total’s experts regularly give high-level scientific presentations for professionals in the energy sector.
Total’s laboratories contain several high-tech equipment and technologies such as Laser Induced Pyrolysis System (LIPS) technology or nano technologies. Total is the only international oil company active in all branches of Qatar’s oil and gas sector. This includes exploration and production, refining, and petrochemicals.