One of the largest events of the oil and gas industry — the 7th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum came to a close in St. Petersburg. More than 4,500 delegates from 43 countries attended the Forum, which ran from October 3 to October 6 in ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre.
This year, the Forum was visited by 11,500 people. The global reach of international participants has considerably expanded: it was for the first time that representatives from Cuba, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Paraguay, Algeria and Uzbekistan attended the event.
At the plenary session "The Role of the Russian Gas Complex in the World Energy Balance" spoke Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom Alexander Medvedev, Minister of Hydrocarbons of Bolivia Luis Alberto Sanchez Fernandez, Chairman of the Executive Board of OMV AG Rainer Seele, Chairman of the Board at Uniper SE Klaus Schafer, Executive Director on gas business and new sources of energy, member of the Executive Committee of Royal Dutch Shell Maarten Wetselaar, Head of the consulting company Lambert Energy Philip Lambert.
Georgy Poltavchenko pointed out the role of St. Petersburg in the development of the gas industry. He remarked that in June 2017, at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, St. Petersburg and Gazprom signed two important agreements: the agreement on creation of LNG production equipment and solutions cluster and the agreement on creation of a transport and raw material high-tech solutions cluster for the development of resources of the World Ocean and the Arctic. "It is for a good reason that St. Petersburg has been chosen as the venue for these initiatives — the city has a huge intellectual potential, and can produce innovative products within a short timeframe. Today, Gazprom's suppliers include more than 80 enterprises of St. Petersburg, and "made in St. Petersburg" brand has always stood for high quality. The city has an outlook of a significant player in the LNG market and offshore projects," pointed out Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko.
Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom Alexander Medvedev spoke of the changes in the global energy emphasizing the growth of gas consumption and greater environmental concern: "We are approaching the peak demand for oil, and the demand for gas will be growing at an increasingly higher pace during many a decade to come. In Europe, with Gazprom being the key supplier, the gas market has been growing for the third consecutive year. In the first six months of the year, consumption growth made approximately 6%, imports increased by more than 22 billion cubic meters. Over 2016-2017, gas imports will amount to approximately 60 billion cubic meters, which is comparable to the capacity of the North Stream 2. If demand keeps growing at the same rate, we will soon be falling short of the target with only this project alone operating as a major supplier."
The Minister of Hydrocarbons of Bolivia, Luis Alberto Sánchez Fernández spoke about the situation in the gas industry of his country and in Latin America in general, where there is an annual industry growth of 4%. "In Bolivia, gas plays an important role: there are about 3.5 million players in the industry with the production market having grown from 4 million to 15 million cubic meters over one year."
The 6th International Congress of Oil and Gas Industry Professionals ran 90 events, which is one third more than in 2016. The experts discussed the transition of the fuel and energy complex industries to the principles of the best available technologies preventing and minimizing the negative impact on the environment, the prospects of using natural gas in transport, the trends in the liquefied hydrocarbon gas market, development of the technical systems infrastructure, automation of processes, preparations for the 2018 World Gas Congress, and the production and storage of biogas.
SPIGF gave special attention to development of human capital, training of industry specialists, formation of a professional community. Annual event "Youth Day: Dialogue of Generations. Off-tie Meeting” brought together 130 students from 40 universities in 26 countries, including Austria, Belarus, Bolivia, Great Britain, Germany, China, the Netherlands, Russia, the United States and France. This year, the topic of the Youth Day was "Dialogue of Generations. Gas – a look into the future" with young specialists presenting innovative LNG projects. Beyond the Youth Day, the Meeting of the Youth Council of the Oil and Gas Industry under the Ministry of Energy of Russia was held. At the conference "Human Capital – Investments in a Sustainable Economy of Russia", participants assessed the labour market in the oil and gas sector. The Forum also saw the final and the awarding ceremony of the winners of the Best Socially-Oriented Oil and Gas Company Contest. The Competition Jury, which included representatives of the Council of Veterans and the Youth Council of the Oil and Gas Industry under the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, gave awards to the following contestants: LUKOIL, Transneft, Rosneft Oil Company, Surgutneftegaz, Gazprom Neft, Zarubezhneft, Tatneft, Oil Company RussNeft.
One of the key events of the Forum was the 2nd International Forum of Component Manufacturers, organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. The event was attended by representatives of key market players, including Gazprom, United Heavy Machinery Plants, HMS Group, United Engine Corporation, Schlumberger, Gazprom avtomatizatsiya. The participants shared their experience of cooperation with Russian suppliers, and spoke about their plans to develop cooperation in the future indicating main categories of components that their companies need.
During all days of the Gas Forum, ExpoForum, with 25 000 square meters total space of its pavilions, was a host to a large-scale industrial exposition consisting of three international industry exhibitions “InGAS Stream – Innovations in the Gas Industry”, “Gas Engine Fuel”, “ROS-GAS-EXPO”, and the specialized exhibition "Import Substitution in the Gas Industry". New solutions on the oil and gas market were presented by more than 500 largest companies: Gazprom, OMV AG, Uniper SE, Air Liquide, RUSNANO, TMK, HMS Group, Skolkovo Foundation, StroyTransNefteGas, Gazprom avtomatizatsiya and others. For the first time the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and the Russian Expert Centre presented their joint exposition displaying prototypes of equipment created by the Russian institutes including Andreev Acoustic Institute, the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology Federal Publicly Funded Institution of Science, Research and Production Enterprise Aviation and Marine Electronics JSC, Concern Oceanpribor JSC, the whole event being part of the state program of the Russian Federation "Development of Shipbuilding and Engineering for the Exploration of Offshore Fields in 2015-2030". Participants found exciting ways of presenting their solutions. For example, Chelpipe Group's new technology of hybrid-laser welding was presented by illusionists making a "sawing of a man" performance.
Forum has asserted itself as an effective business platform, with participants signing significant industrial agreements. This year, ANT-Inform signed agreements with Gas-Tel and Gazprom Home Systems. TMK has agreed to cooperate with Gazprom Burenie: TMK will be the key supplier of the complete range of steel drill pipes that Gazprom Burenie uses for drilling wells in the fields in Russia. Gazprom Gas-Engine Fuel and Gazpromtrans concluded an agreement on the use of CNG for the Obskaya-Bovanenkovo railroad's rolling stock in Yamal and for power generation at infrastructure facilities of the road. A number of agreements were signed by Gazprom, including those aimed at supporting promising innovative projects of small enterprises.
The Gas Forum saw the finish of the NGV Rally "Blue Corridor – 2017: Iberia – Baltia". Contesting natural gas-powered trucks and cars travelled more than 5,5 thousand km through the territories of Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, the Baltic States and Russia. It is the first time that liquefied natural gas-powered vehicles take part in the rally including: IVECO Stralis, SCANIA P340, KAMAZ 56117, URAL NEXT, MAZ 534023.
A number of exciting cultural events were run as part of the event to enjoy the participants and guests of the Forum, including the musical and theatrical performance "The Imperial Capital: St. Petersburg-Vienna. Symphony in Letters and Poems ", organized by Gazprom and Austrian company OMV AG, and the International Mixed Martial Arts Tournament "Fight Nights Global 75".
The work of the Forum was covered by 300 journalists from 150 media sources.
The 7th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum was a part of the International Forum on Energy Efficiency and Energy Development "Russian Energy Week". The purpose of the Russian Energy Week was to discuss the current global energy agenda, to identify main directions for the development of the fuel and energy sector, to find the best solutions in the face of existing challenges.
SPIGF-2017 was held with the participation of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, and with the support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the State Duma Committee on Energy, the Government of St. Petersburg, the Russian Gas Society, the National Association of Oil and Gas Services, NGV Italy.
The general partner is Gazprom. The general sponsor is AB Russia. Partners: OMV AG, Uniper SE, Gazprombank, TMK, Chelpipe Group, HMS Group, Gazprom Gazenergoset, Surgut perevalka. The partner of the business program is the Komita Group of Companies. General Information Partner is Russian News Agency "TASS". General Radio Partner – Business FM. The general information partner of the convention program is the magazine Gazovaya Promyshlennost (Gas Industry). General industry information partner – Neftegaz.ru. Strategic information partner – Izvestia.