On 5 October, SPIGF-2018 hosted the round table focusing on the role of convention and exhibition activities in the oil and gas complex. The event was attended by high-ranking representatives of Russian organizations involved in the convention and exhibition industry and related sectors, including: ExpoForum International, EXPOCENTER, the National Oil and Gas Forum, , RESTEC, FAREXPO, Kazan Fair, Bashkir Exhibition Company, Expo-Volga, InfoTEK.

The leaders of relevant organizations and industry experts discussed the idea of establishing an exhibition and convention coordinating council in the oil and gas industry, as well as key areas for improving the quality and effectiveness of professional events.

The President of the Union of Oil & Gas Producers of Russia, Genadiy Schmal, welcomed his colleagues and stressed that convention and exhibition events play an important role in the oil and gas industry. There are meetings held at forums and exhibitions, professional communication is going on, new solutions and equipment are being demonstrated. At the same time, in recent years there have been duplicate events, making it difficult for participants to choose a specific exhibition, to evaluate its capabilities compared to others. Resolutions of these events should be carefully considered by the Government of the Russian Federation.

“Some projects should be supported by the Ministry of Energy of Russia, there must be some kind of ranking, setting priorities for events and organizers, most definetely, giving priority to national projects. Today, we have to take counsel, discuss the possibility of creating a coordination group, which could not only recommend these or other measures, but could also make these projects more efficient for the economy of the country as a whole,” — he said.

According to Mikhail Tolkachev, Deputy CEO of the EXPOCENTER exhibition complex, the oil and gas industry is a very attractive sector for many organizers. However, one should be well-versed in the area, as the community needs expert opinion on the events held.

Editor-in-Chief of the oil and gas magazine InfoTEK, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Engine Fuel of the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Natalya Shulyar pointed out that over the course of 25 years, the role of foreign agencies and companies in Russia, which in some cases have even more information than the Russian Ministry of Energy, has noticeably increased.

“Today there is an aggravation of manipulation techniques. One of the main factors of such influence is the oil price in the world, which is formed exclusively on the basis of quotations of British and American price agencies,” — she said.

Natalya Shulyar supported the idea of creating the convention and exhibition activities coordination council of Russian companies in the oil and gas complex and stated the need to draw regulators' attention to the problems. Today, it is necessary to raise the status of Russian consulting and price agencies in general and our experts in particular.

According to Denis Osadchiy, the Head of St. Petersburg International Gas Forum, such associations and expert councils have high professional authority, allowing them to share new ideas and practices in promoting the common cause, to coordinate the work of market players, and build effective mechanisms for interaction with the state and executive authorities.

Denis Osadchiy also pointed out that this year, together with partners – RESTEC and FAREXPO – ExpoForum International made the Gas Forum a single set of events willingly attended by foreign experts.

Among the issues that should be addressed, the head of SPIGF highlighted the problem of similar events being run at the same time.

“This is ineffective in terms of expert staff, addressing serious professional issues. A way out of this situation could be holding such events at different times, consolidating market participants in working with information, sharing experience,” — he said.

Ekaterina Bednova, Head of EXPOCENTER's proprietary exhibitions department (NEFTEGAZ Exhibition), spoke about the trend of digitalization in the development of exhibitions as a result of dynamic development of information and communication technologies and aimed at providing maximum convenience for participants in using personal member accounts and other services.

Elena Ublieva, PR Director of ExpoForum International, Executive Director of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs, invited colleagues to put their efforts together to create the coordination council based on the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs, which is an authoritative professional exhibition community in Russia. The Union conducts an independent audit of events, according to the results of which it assigns an honorary sign to the projects.

The opinion of Elena Ublieva was supported by Andrey Levitan, CEO of Expo-Volga exhibition company. He said that we should protect the market and business from "technological aggression" and look in the direction of partnerships more.

Vladimir Mysin, Head of the Exhibition and Fair Programs Department of the Bashkir Exhibition Company, and Ekaterina Ivanova, Head of the Exhibition Directorate of Kazan Fair, supported setting up of the Coordination Council. They also spoke about thematic events held in the republics (Russian Oil and Gas Chemical Forum, Tatarstan Oil and Gas Chemical Forum), sharing experiences of project interaction.

Summing up the round table, the Director of the National Oil and Gas Forum, Sergey Yatsenya, once again returned to the issue of state policy priorities in relation to the Russian organizations of the exhibition and event industry. He also made a point that in this connection the national agenda for import substitution would be extremely appropriate.

“Can you imagine a situation where the Russian player – a representative of the convention and exhibition industry (especially a strategically important industry), holds major events in central London or Washington, and elbowing its way through production schedules of local companies? I can’t see that happening. I think you also think it's impossible. And here in Moscow and the largest oil and gas Russian cities, it is possible. It's time to put an end to this,” — he concluded.

All the participants of the round table supported the idea of forming the coordinating council, agreeing to sum up its official results by 15 October and develop an appropriate memorandum of cooperation and mutual understanding.

The event was organized by NGO Union of Oil & Gas Producers of Russia, NEFTEGAZ Exhibition, the National Oil and Gas Forum, ExpoForum International.