XIII International Youth Scientific and Practical Congress “Oil and Gas Horizons”

From 16 to 19 November the XIII International Youth Scientific and Practical Congress “Oil and Gas Horizons” was held at the National University of Oil and Gas “Gubkin University” in a hybrid format. The Congress is organized annually by the Gubkin University Student Chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). This year, the Congress was attended 219 students, postgraduates and young professionals from 45 universities from 30 countries, including: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen.

The Congress “Oil and Gas Horizons” is the largest international platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience of oil and gas industry specialists from all over the world. This year, due to the epidemiological situation, the Congress was held in a hybrid format. All foreign participants took part in online format.

The Congress began with the Opening Ceremony, at which the following speakers welcomed the participants: the Chief organizer of the Congress - Daria Belikova, Rector of the National State University of Oil and Gas “Gubkin University” - Victor Martynov, Professor of Energy and Resources Law at Macquarie University, and the Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resrouces Innovation and Transformation (CENRIT) at Macquarie University - Tina Soliman Hunter, Technical Director, GeoSplit LL - Evgeny Malyavko, Talent Acquisition and Employer Brand Manager, Schlumberger - Olga Myasoedova, Ph.D P.E. Petroleum Engineering/Texas A&M University, President of SPE International 2021 - Thomas Blasingame, SPE Regional Director of Russia and the Caspian Region – Ignaty Volnov, Director of the Moscow SPE Section - Anton Ablaev, Direction Manager, Gazprom Neft Shelf - Artem Shpakov, Head of Department of Forecasting and Monitoring of Field Development at Novatek - Sergey Kolbikov, Senior Regional Activities Manager, SPE Russia and Caspian - Yaroslava Orlova, Assistant to the Rector for international affairs, Gubkin University - Vlada Streletskaya.

The Congress continued with the Keynote Speech from Tina Soliman Hunter, Professor of Energy and Resources Law at Macquarie University, and the Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resrouces Innovation and Transformation (CENRIT) at Macquarie University, and a Plenary Session opened by Thomas Blasingame, Ph.D., P.E. Petroleum Engineering/Texas A&M University, President of SPE International 2021. Further, the Plenary Session was attended by Tina Soliman Hunter, Evgeny Malyavko, Technical Director, GeoSplit LLC, Nikita Golunov, Vice-Rector for Continuing Professional Education, and Yury Redutskiy, Associate Professor in Quantitative Logistics, Faculty of Logistic Molde University College – Specialized University in Logistics.

Within the framework of the “Oil and Gas Horizons” program, the Technical Lectures were held, given by specialists from various oil and gas companies. Andrey Mitrofanov, Lead expert, Combustion engineer, Royal Dutch Shell, BP p.l.c., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Holder of letters of thanks from Yamal LNG and Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd, spoke on the topic “Process basis of design. Installation of equipment in Arctic conditions on the examples Yamal LNG project. Modules. HP Flare”. Sergey Kolbikov, Head of Department of Forecasting and Monitoring of Field Development at Novatek, Honored Member of SPE Moscow Section, gave a lecture on the topic “New Technologies are Facing The Arctic Challenges”. In addition to the technical component, Soft Skills Lecture was held, where Ivan Kurchatov, Oil and Gas Production Operator, Prirazlomnaya offshore platform, Gazprom Neft Shelf LLC, spoke about work on the Arctic shelf.

18 representatives of universities from all over the world took part in the International Round Table in a hybrid format. The International Round Table brought together delegates and participants from different countries such as Russia, Romania, Iran, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Italy, Norway. During the first hour, 5 chapters presented their SPE SCs. During the second hour, topics that concern the oil and gas industry were discussed.

The Technical Case on the topic “A new solution for waste management offshore Arctic” for the Congress participants was organized and conducted by the Gubkin Case Club this year. The intellectual game “PetroOlympic Games” organized by activists of the GU SPE Student Chapter with the support of GeoSplit LLC was held as well. These events allowed participants not only to test their knowledge, but also to try to solve pressing problems of the oil and gas industry.

The main event of the Congress was Technical Sessions, where students presented their reports in ten sections: Geosciences; Drilling and Completion; Oil and Gas Field Development; Oil and Gas Logistics, Storage and Transportation; Oil and Gas Chemistry; Health, Safety and Environment; Petroleum Economics and Management; “Smart” technologies, Engineering mechanics, Law Regulation of Oil and Gas Industry. There were also two sessions for PhD students and Young Professionals: PhD and Young Professionals Paper Contest Upstream and PhD and Young Professionals Paper Contest Midstream & Downstream. Also, there was a new special Technical Session “Towards a Sustainable Arctic Region” for young scientists organized jointly with the first International Interdisciplinary Scientific and Practical Conference “Man in the Arctic”. The Congress included a School Section that gave students of 9-11th grades all over Russia the opportunity to present their research papers as part of the Energy4me educational program. This year, 100 students, postgraduates and young professionals, as well as 5 schoolchildren, took part in the Technical Sessions.

Also, within the framework of the Congress program, excursion of the National State University of Oil and Gas “Gubkin University” and a rich cultural program along the most beautiful and famous sights of Moscow was prepared for our participants to truly experience the city.

At the end of the Congress, the winners of the Technical Sessions, Intellectual Game and Technical Case were awarded. Also, the Chief organizer of the Congress - Daria Belikova, Head of Research and Publication Support Department - Alexander Komkov, SPE Regional Director of Russia and the Caspian Region - Ignaty Volnov, Sourcing lead, Schlumberger - Anna Rodionova, PhD in Political Sciences, the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Integrated Security of Fuel and Energy Complex - Dmitriy Medvedev, Direction Manager, Gazprom Neft Shelf - Artem Shpakov, Assistant to the Rector for international affairs, Gubkin University - Vlada Streletskaya and President of GU SC - Anastasia Kritinina spoke at the Closing Ceremony of the Congress.

The Platinum Sponsors of the event were LLC “Gazprom Transgaz Moscow” and Schlumberger, the Silver Sponsor was PJSC “Gazprom Avtomatizatsiya” and the Sponsor was GeoSplit LLC. Saint-Petersburg Mining University, The International Interdisciplinary Scientific and Practical Conference “Man in the Arctic”, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, The Scientific Center “Arctic”, PJSC Tatneft, PJSC Lukoil, LLC JC RUSVIETPETRO, ROGII Inc., Halliburton Company and Gubkin Case Club became partners of the Congress. Informational support for the event was provided by the magazines “Oil and Gas Vertical”, “Sphere. Oil and Gas”, OGEL, OilGasCom – the General Media Partners, PETROLEUM Journal, “LawTek”, “OIL. GAZ. Novation”, “Neftyanoe Khozyaystvo”, OilGasInform, “Exposition Oil & Gas” - the Official Media Partners.