On 3 October, during St. Petersburg International Gas Forum, the round table discussion took place Import Substitution and Prospects of Export of Russian Oil and Gas Technologies, where the experts spoke of the state policy for technology export, and of the Russian’s industry potential in passing from import substitution to export of locally made goods. The round table discussion was organized by the Russian Gas Society, the Russian Export Center, and Expoforum International.
The round table discussion was moderated by Vladimir Belousov, Director for the Support of Exports of the Power and Heavy Engineering Industry, Russian Export Center. He mentioned that for 4 years, our country has been on the program of import substitution, and thus, promoting local production. “We are aware that we can’t build strong infrastructure without import substitution, which negatively affects energy safety and competitive ability of the oil and gas sector. We need to develop and introduce the technologies to cut costs of production, transportation and procession of hydrocarbons,” says Mr. Belousov.
Alexey Dubinin, Head of the Division for Oil and Gas Equipment Development, Department of Machine Tool Building and Investment Machine Building of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, spoke of the technology and production export policy of the state. According to him, the key objective for the Ministry of Industry and Trade is to reduce import dependence from 60 to 43% by 2020. For this, they established an interdepartmental group for import substitution in the fuel and energy complex, which included the scientific and technical board for oil and gas equipment development. It comprises 15 work groups made of oil and gas companies’ representatives. Thus, it became possible to assess the balance of demand and offer. “We know our customer’s needs, and prompt Russian enterprises to make the needed goods with means of support we have available. We help both financially and regulatory,” the speaker explains. Today, four special investment contracts are signed. The Ministry of Industry and Trade offers easy 5% loans, provided by the Industry Development Foundation. 14 projects have used this offer and borrowed over 3 bln rubles. The Ministry supports R&D works, and 20 enterprises have already taken their chance. Moreover, there is a program under which the Ministry of Industry and Trade support pilot projects, reimbursing the companies for the expenses, actually undertaken to make the goods.
On 30 August, the roadmap was approved for development of standards on the equipment elaborated for the oil and gas sector. “It will fix the criteria for the country of origin, the so-called ‘Russiasness’ criteria: they will have to provide engineering documents, indicate the number of technological operations, and the share of Russian-made raw materials used to make these products,” said Alexey Dubinin. “We’re going to sign agreements with equipment consumers, including Novatek, Gazprom, Rosneft, about their intent to buy these products.”
In 2017, the export reached the number of 27 bln rubles. We mainly export fittings, pumps, tanks and containers. To develop product supplies the support means are necessary, some of them already offered by the Russian Export Center, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade has already budgeted money to support enterprises next year.
Yuri Dokukin, Head of a separate division, Russian Export Center, St. Petersburg, told about support arrangements that REC offers. The company has to solve the following tasks: to create favorable conditions to increase export rates, to diversify the export structure, to increase the share of manufactured goods, as well as to enhance efficiency and consolidate the system of export support. “We know what challenges the exporter faces at all stages of project implementation. We have the tools that can either solve such challenges or improve export activities of companies. We use analytics to check if a certain type of goods is demanded abroad, how much they need and where,” Dokukin explained.
Then, REC offers the following vectors of support: promotion to foreign markets, including search for partners, compensation for exhibition participation up to 80% for small- and medium-sized enterprises, and up to 50% for large companies. The center offers educational services, too. In St. Petersburg, they collaborate with the Business Development and Support Center, offering subsidies at certification, patenting and licensing of products, along with loans and guarantee support. “We offer advance payments and payment securities for suppliers, as well as VAT return under contracts of export. We protect Russian suppliers from non-payment risks involved when dealing with foreign buyers, which is especially important for those who trade with postponed payment. By the way, such insurance coverage can be used as a loan payment security in your bank, ” the speaker continued.
Moreover, in 2017, REC launched their project Made in Russia in order to help the best Russian manufacturers get to the international markets and improve Russian products’ image abroad. Products are being certified, meeting top international standards, and is expertly assessed. The system of non-mandatory certification and labeling with Made in Russia has 2 stages: at first, company’s experience and business reputation are assessed, and then the product itself is evaluated. Today, 111 manufacturers have passed the certification procedure. Through the discussion, it became obvious that the export potential of Russian oil and gas technologies keeps growing.