St. Petersburg hosted today a meeting of the Inter-Agency Working Group on Reducing Dependence of Russia’s Fuel and Energy Complex on Imported Products involving representatives of Gazprom.

The meeting was chaired by Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. Gazprom was represented at the event by Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Vyacheslav Mikhalenko and Vsevolod Cherepanov, Members of the Management Committee and Heads of Departments, and Pavel Krylov, Head of Department.

The meeting discussed the joint work of the relevant ministries and entities with the purpose of reducing the Russian oil and gas industry’s dependence on imported equipment, technologies and software. A vital link in the common effort is the Scientific and Technical Council for the Development of Oil and Gas Equipment, which includes 14 expert groups in key areas of import substitution. Gazprom’s representatives preside over four of those groups: Technologies and Equipment for Offshore Projects, Subsea Production Complexes, Gas Transportation Technologies and Equipment, and Natural Gas Liquefaction Technologies.

Domestic subsea production systems (SPS) are currently being developed under an order from the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade with the support of Gazprom. Russian research institutions are engaged in engineering operations to that end. It is planned to produce SPS prototypes in 2019 and to conduct comprehensive tests in 2020. Proposals were developed with the aim of creating import-substituting equipment for offshore drilling rigs. Tests were carried out for offshore seismic and electric prospecting equipment prototypes.

Extensive efforts are underway to solve the problem of dependence on imports in natural gas liquefaction projects. It was noted that Russian companies were already capable of producing the bulk of equipment and materials for such projects. For instance, domestic producers had started to manufacture spiral heat exchangers and cold-resistant steel for LNG reservoirs as commissioned by Gazprom.

Particular attention was paid to the need for a national engineering center and a specialized foundry complex to produce turbine blades for imported industrial gas turbines, which would eliminate imports of spare parts and reduce repair costs. Meanwhile, domestic manufacturers would gain new competencies and obtain a guaranteed sales market.

The meeting resulted in the signing of the Program for Developing Regulatory Documents Regarding Domestic Subsea Production System for Offshore Oil and Gas Fields. The document was signed by Vasily Osmakov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Alexey Abramov, Head of the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart), and Vitaly Markelov, Chairman of the Technical Committee for Standardization (TC 23) “Oil and Gas Industry.”