The Forum is going to be a catalyst of innovative procedures.
This year, the extent of the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum is beyond the boldest expectations. There are 500+ major market players from Russia and overseas taking part in it, and the convention program includes 90 events like conferences, workshops, round table discussions, presentations, and many more, where the most urgent issues of the relevant industrial sector will be discussed. ‘We have reasons to expect that up to 30 thousand visitors from 50+ countries will attend the venue during four days of the Forum,’ said Sergey Voronkov, CEO of ExpoForum International.
Every year, the Forum program is designed with due regard to the most essential trends in the gas sector. Today, the focus is on import substitution, new LNG production and use projects, exploration and mining of hydrocarbons, break-through technologies, and these are just a few of the topics.
The pivotal subject to be covered during the plenary session, which is part of SPIGF 2023, is global natural gas market transformation: challenges and ways of development. The primary discussion 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, Xie Jun – Vice President of the China National Petroleum Corporation, and Jurabek Mirzamahmudov – Minister of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The list of those speaking at the Forum includes Pavel Sorokin – First Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Karin Kneissl – Director of G.O.R.K.I. Centre, Expert Analyst in energy, teacher, ex Minister of Foreign Affairs in Austria, Fedor Kroshin – Deputy Head of Secretariat of Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government, Executive Office of the Government of the Russian Federation, and Yury Borisov – CEO of Roscosmos. Besides, this is the first time when SPIGF will be participated by Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation.
As usual, representatives of Russian federal and regional state agencies are going to take a tour over the exhibition along with officials of the biggest global companies. They will see the latest high-tech projects developed by Russian scientists for the oil and gas sector. These are expected to make the most ambitious and break-through initiatives possible.
Year after year, some new regions and countries join the Forum. Sergey Voronkov mentioned that compared to the previous years, this time the Forum saw a lot more representatives from the Asia-Pacific Region, Africa, and the Arab World. The exhibition will include the breakthroughs made by the companies from the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Iran, Turkey, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Italy, Armenia, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Lithuania, and Serbia. Several landmark international events will be arranged, including Russia – Asia and Russia – Latin America business dialogues.
Special focus during SPIGF 2023 will be on the events participated by young professionals. It is especially for them that the Youth Day and the Day of the Young Industrialist in the Oil and Gas Industry were planned. The Business Matchmaking Centre, which has always been one of the most popular locations at the Forum, will be part of it again. It is intended for formal and informal meetings, signing of agreements, and other kinds of events. This year, the Business Matchmaking Centre will once again open its doors to the largest oil and gas corporations, their would-be suppliers and contractors from different countries.
Exhibitions arranged during SPIGF 2023 deserve a specific mention. Hundreds of companies will take part in them to showcase their advanced technologies, equipment, and services. All the sites in the exhibition pavilions and the Passage have been used, and there is also an extensive outdoor exposition to demonstrate the biggest exhibits, including the Russian newly-designed drilling equipment.
The participants are invited to attend the international specialised exhibitions – InGAS Stream 2023 – Innovations in the Gas Industry, Gas Engine Fuel, ROS-GAS-EXPO, as well as the Import Substitution in the Gas Industry Corporate Exposition. The collaborative stands are presented by the Astrakhan, Chelyabinsk, and Penza Regions, the Perm Territory, and the Republic of Tatarstan. There, they will present the production potential of their local fuel and energy companies.
On November 2, the participants of the Forum will have a chance to get autographs from Russian football celebrities, and in the evening the gala dinner at Gazprom Arena will take place with a cocktail dinner and an entertainment program.
‘We would like to express our thanks to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade and Russian Ministry of Energy, and the Government of St. Petersburg for their support of the event. Without their help, the Forum of such a scale would definitely have been impossible,’ said Sergey Voronkov. ‘However, we are not going to stop with what we have already achieved. SPIGF 2023 is notable for its highest organization standards, and I am sure that a few years later it will be the major industrial event of the world. We are also going to arrange industry-related occasions in other regions of Russia – with respect to their specifics, of course, to extend our geographic coverage. I have no doubts that SPIGF will act as a catalyst for many innovative processes, as a smithy where the most striking and significant solutions will be forged, the ones that will point the right direction for the global gas sector.’