The 12th International Youth Scientific and Practical Congress: Oil and Gas Horizons was held at Gubkin University

On 18-20 November 2020, the 12th International Youth Scientific and Practical Congress «Oil and Gas Horizons» was held online by Gubkin University SPE Student Chapter. This year, the Congress was attended by 128 students and young professionals representing 43 universities from 15 countries, including: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Venezuela and Russia.

Oil and Gas Horizons is the largest international platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience between oil and gas industry specialists from all over the world. This year, due to the difficult epidemiological situation, the Congress for the first time was held online.

The Congress began with the opening ceremony. Ms. Anastasia Kritinina, Chief Coordinator of the Congress, Dr. Alexander Maksimenko, Vice-Rector for Scientific and International Affairs, Head of Tashkent Branch at Gubkin University, Mr. Alexander Monakhov, Director of the Controlled Directional Drilling Department at Baker Hughes, Mr. Artem Karapetov, Vice President of Schlumberger Russia and Central Asia, Mr. Ignaty Volnov, SPE Regional Director of Russia and the Caspian region, Mr. Michael Collins, CEO of Salym Petroleum Development N.V., Ms. Shona Noonan, President of SPE International 2020, Mr. Anton Ablaev, Director of Moscow SPE Section, Ms. Anar Ermukhambetova, Student Affairs Chairman of Moscow SPE Section, and Ms. Yaroslava Orlova, Senior Regional Activities Specialist welcomed the participants of the Congress.

The Congress continued with the key presentation delivered by Mr. Andrey Alekseev, Director of Strategy and Marketing at Baker Hughes, and the Plenary Session opened by Dr. Nikita Golunov, Vice-Rector for Continuing Professional Education at Gubkin University. Further, the Plenary Session was attended by Ms. Artem Karapetov, Vice President of Schlumberger Russia and Central Asia, Ms. Veronika Bubenok, OFS HR Director at Baker Hughes, Mr. Mikhail Erchenkov, Head of Landmark Halliburton Eurasia, and Mr. Michael Collins, CEO of Salym Petroleum Development N.V. The Plenary Session was moderated by Mr. Marat Tukhvatullin, Project Manager at Schneider Group.

As part of the Congress, a number of various events were held including: the meeting of the Russian National Committee of the World Petroleum Council, where the results of the Mentoring Project 2019-2020 were summed up; three technical lectures with participation of specialists from oil and gas companies; and a soft skill training.

The program of the Congress included international and regional round table discussions (Russia and the Caspian region) where 35 representatives of universities shared their ideas and projects; the technical case organized and conducted by Oil Case Company; the intellectual PetroOlympic Games organized by activists of Gubkin University SPE Student Chapter. All events enabled the participants not only to test their knowledge, but also to try to solve pressing issues of the oil and gas industry.

The main event of the Congress was technical sessions, where the participants delivered their presentations in eight 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. In addition, two sessions for postgraduate students, including the session of PhD and Young Professionals Paper Contest Upstream and the session of PhD and Young Professionals Paper Contest Midstream and Downstream. The school session that gave students of 9-11th grades all over Russia the opportunity to present their research papers as part of the Energy4me educational program was also held during the Congress.

This year, 98 students and 22 schoolchildren from 20 cities of Russia delivered their presentations during the technical sessions.

At the closing ceremony of the Congress, the winners of the technical sessions, Intellectual Game and Technical Case were announced.

The platinum sponsors of the event were Baker Hughes and Schlumberger, the gold sponsor was Gazprom Neft PJSC, and the silver sponsor was NC Neftisa JSC. Halliburton, LUKOIL PJSC and Oil Сase became partners of the Congress. Informational support for the event was provided by the magazines ROGTEC, Tochka Opory, The Journal of Natural Gas Engineering, OGEL, Petroleum, Oil and Gas Vertical, Sphere. Oil and Gas.