Gazprom Neft has begun registering participants for its second inter-regional schools’ competition, “Developing Talent”. The competition gives high school students the opportunity to test themselves in addressing the genuine production problems encountered by today’s oil industry professionals in the course of their work. The highest-scoring teams will be invited to St Petersburg to take part in the tournament final, to be held in early November.
Today’s oil and gas sector is a high-technology industry, making full use of the latest cutting-edge scientific developments. It is precisely thanks to new technologies that oil is, today, being produced from reserves that were, until quite recently, considered unsuitable for development. New technologies are making possible the drilling of wells that were, just a few years ago, considered unique, as well as making possible the remote monitoring and control of production processes and the processing and analysis of vast volumes of data in order to find new ways of developing fields. Only highly qualified professionals, working at the interface of various professions — geology, mathematics, physics, chemistry and many others — are capable of resolving these various issues. To that end, Gazprom Neft is actively involved in promoting interest in engineering among talented young people, offering students from those regions in which the company has a presence the opportunity to fulfil their intellectual potential.
The format of the “Developing Talent” competition will involve students being set mini research projects based around the genuine challenges faced by professionals in field development. Taking part in the tournament will help develop scientific research skills, structured thinking, and the ability to work in a team — all essential in today’s companies, as well as potentially helping some students in choosing their future careers.
More than 1,200 participants registered for last year’s Developing Talent competition. Students from St Petersburg, Tyumen, Noyabrsk, Muravlenko, villages in Yamal (Cape Kammeny, Novy Port), Khanty-Mansiysk, Tomsk and several regions of Moscow will all be able to take part in the competition in autumn 2016*.
Completed cases forwarded by students for review will be assessed by specialists from the Gazprom Neft Science and Research Centre, with the top three teams from each region selected on their total scores and invited to the final in St Petersburg, where they can look forward not just to continuing work on their projects but also interesting and unusual excursions, discussions with oil-industry scientists, business games and role-play exercises, and many new experiences!
MarsKhasanov, Head of the Gazprom Neft Scientific and Technology Centre, commented: “Gazprom Neft has, today, become one of the leading companies in Russia’s oil and gas industry in terms of its technological capabilities. But with field development becoming ever more complex with every passing year, the industry is in constant need of new approaches and solutions — leading to a process of constant improvement in working methods and continued professional development among employees. Retaining industry leadership means attracting the best minds — to which end the company actively encourages interest among talented young students in obtaining an education in engineering and studying precisely those sciences essential to the industry. Indeed, its precisely these people who will, before too long, be managing these technical processes and determining the course of their development.”
Follow updates on the tournament at http://turnir.rodnyegoroda.ru/ or via this group on Vkontakte.
Gazprom Neft is committed to using high technology in all its activities; for which reason its Home Towns corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme has a particular focus on collaboration with secondary and higher general and professional educational establishments, as well as supporting the establishment of specialist classes, scientific laboratories and workshops (and supporting grant programmes) in schools and universities throughout those regions in which the company has a presence. In 2015 the company initiated two new educational projects, directed at attracting students to engineering and technical sciences, and to supporting gifted and talented young people — the Developing Talent programme, an oil and gas themed competition for middle- and senior-class high school students, and a major project for developing essential maths skills, “Progress in Mathematics”. These programmes — in what is a unique format in Russia’s regions — have engendered considerable interest among young people in their first year of implementation.
*More detailed information on the terms and conditions of participating in the tournament, as well as rules on registration, can be found at http://turnir.rodnyegoroda.ru/.
