The Russian oil and gas industry is self-sufficient and fully functional despite of the mounting pressure imposed by the sanctions – this is the main conclusion that can be made after Day 1.
An impressive number of agreements to be signed during SPIGF 2023 and included into its convention program can be deemed as a proof that the Russian oil and gas sector has managed to adapt to operation in the new conditions. The same can be said about the geographic coverage of the Forum. This year, it has been extended on the account of the countries from the Asia-Pacific Region, Africa, and the Arab World.
As planned, Russia is switching from the feedstock export to the high-tech solutions export. On the very first day of the Forum, Gazprom Transgaz Belarus signed Memorandum of Collaboration with Gazprombank’s e-trading platform (ETP GPB). The company intends to put into operation the advanced IT solutions by ETP GPB and be able to manage its procurement and contracting activities at every stage. ‘Today, industrial companies don’t simply want to have their procurement procedures arranged effectively. They require some multifunctional composite service for comprehensive corporate expenses management,’ explained Mikhail Konstantinov, CEO of ETP GPB. ‘Gazprom Transgaz Belarus is really focused on development and introduction of the most state-of-the-art digital technologies. We expect our partnership with ETP GPB to gain further momentum to this frame of reference,’ outlined Vladimir Mayorov, CEO of Gazprom Transgaz Belarus.
The Forum participants have also concentrated on the discussion of current matters related to operations management in oil and gas companies. During the session ‘Industrial and labor safety today. Key success factors and overcoming difficulties,’ the industry’s representatives shared their management experience. Thanks to skillful management, the oil industry did well last year despite all the unprecedented sanctions. 535 million tons of oil were mined in Russia. Moreover, they managed to find new areas of oil products export. ‘In January 2022, we had 80% of the products exported to the EU countries, but at the end of the year almost all of them were being sent to the Eurasian countries, with India in the first place,’ reported Gennady Shmal, President of the Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia. According to him, this export direction has good prospects, as the aggregate economy of China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia exceeds the overall economy of the USA and the EU.
HR management matters were considered during the workshop/meeting intended for HR management departments of Gazprom Group. During the functional session of the Gazstroyprom Procurement Department, they shared experience in relevant procurement arrangements and digitalization. At the same time, the Day of the Young Industrialist in the Oil and Gas Industry kicked off – along with many other events and discussions, where both general and highly specific aspects of the industry’s operation were brought into the spotlight.
One of the key development trends for the industry today is LNG production. In fact, it is what extension of Russia’s export potential directly depends on. In the midterm, Russia intends to double its LNG production – to reach the amount of 66 mln tons a year, and in the longterm – to reach the amount of 100 mln tons a year. This was announced by Alexey Fadeev, Director for Key Partners at the Institute of Oil and Gas Technology Initiatives, during the round table discussion ‘Standardisation in the LNG sector: current situation and future plans.’ According to Mr. Fadeev, Russia is currently working on implementation of 70+ gas liquefaction projects, and the market potential has been evaluated as capable of 200 to 250 mln tons – as long as all the initiatives planned are put into operation.
On Day 1 of the Forum, special focus was on development of the domestic gas market, too. This process has been catalyzed by the program of further gas infrastructure extension, which is currently carried out in compliance with the Task assigned by Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. To manage this really sophisticated and essential project at the country level, a special analytical panel has been established – Gas infrastructure expansion in Russian Regions Dashboard. It is being successfully operated now. Day 1 of SPIGF 2023 has seen the presentation of this platform and its capabilities. It was participated by Vadim Simdyakin, member of the Board and Head of Department in Gazprom; Sergey Gustov, CEO of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz; as well as representatives of the Analytical Centre for the Government of the Russian Federation. ‘The dashboard has become an irreplaceable tool for analysis and supervision of further gas infrastructure extension arrangements. With the information it displays we can see how the parameters change realtime, discover vulnerabilities, or find out if some regions drop behind as regards to our performance goals. Thanks to it, we can timely make decisions to improve the situation,’ Sergey Gustov explained.
The St. Petersburg International Gas Forum is not just an important place to have professional discussions about the most urgent industry-related matters. It is also a venue for business meetings, which can result in promising projects. On October 31, ExpoForum International and Consortium of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence – Association of Companies that Design and Make Robot Technologies and Intelligent Control Systems took part in the agreement signing ceremony. The parties decided to have some collaborations. ‘Consortium of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence can and should become a general partner for ExpoForum International, and SPIGF is only the first of the collaborations. Today, robotics and intelligent systems can be found at almost every industrial exhibition, and we hold more than 20 of them every year,’ said Sergey Voronkov, CEO of ExpoForum International.
Despite its busy schedule, the Forum has found a place for intelligent leisure. A game of multiboard chess is taking place at the Indever stand during the event. The participants can play with chess player Daniil Nedostup – Candidate Master of Sports, frequent awardee and winner of St. Petersburg based championships, director of international chess festivals, and a chess club manager.
On November 1, the key day of SPIGF 2023, the program is going to be even more varied. The pivotal event will be the plenary session GLOBAL NATURAL GAS MARKET TRANSFORMATION: CHALLENGES AND WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT. It will be participated by Alexey Miller – Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom, Nikolay Shulginov – Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Roman Sklyar – First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Alparslan Bayraktar – Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey, Xie Jun – Vice President of the China National Petroleum Corporation, and Jurabek Mirzamahmudov – Minister of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan.