The IT championship of the oil industry gives a start to new solutions!

In October, Gazprom Neft's Digital House hosted the final of the first IT championship in the oil industry. 38 teams from major companies – Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Tatneft, Transneft and others - took part in it. Our team, Prometheus– took the second place, losing only a third of a point to the Zarubezhneft team.

For two months, 38 teams competed for the main prize of 1,000,000 rubles and the opportunity to launch their project in the oil industry. The topic of the championship case was ensuring the continuity of the IT contour of the drilling control center. Only 10 teams successfully completed the case and prepared their own IT solution within the framework of the 48-hour hackathon.

After evaluating the finished code of the system, its originality, functionality and economic efficiency indicators, as well as based on assessments for project protection and answers to expert questions, the best result of 32.2 points was shown by the team of NESTRO TECH (the Zarubezhneft team).  The winning team will provide the source code of its IT solution to the organizers of the championship for its subsequent implementation and possible application in oil companies.

The second result in the final table was scored by the Prometheus team from Gazpromneft–Digital Solutions, with colleagues scoring 31.83 points.

Gazprom's Drill IT team also entered the top three winners with a score of 28.27 points.

All the winners of the IT championship will be able to get advice from the digital platform "Professionals 4.0" to develop their careers. The finalists of the championship also had an opportunity to discuss with invited experts – Michael Collins, CEO of Salym Petroleum Development NV, and BI Growth Director.Rustem Khayretdinov's Zone – the IT needs of the oil industry, management of the IT risk zone, ways to increase user confidence in technologies implemented in companies and opportunities for the development of industry solutions.

The Expert Commission noted the high level of preparation of the finalists and the quality of the IT solutions provided at the final. This year, the expert commission included representatives of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, representatives of oil and IT companies, and specialized higher educational institutions. Gazprom Neft was represented in the commission by Alexander Sitnikov, Head of the Department of Business Efficiency Improvement Programs, Lilia Zagorodnykh, Director of ITAT's Risk and Business Continuity Programs, Andrey Okara, Head of ITAT's Business Continuity and Risk Practice, and Igor Simon, Head of Gazpromneft NTC's Well Construction Management Center. Energotechnohab Petersburg was presented by Andrey Vlasov, Head of the Project office. Ilya Dementyev, Rector of Gazprom Neft Corporate University, headed the commission.

THE FOOTNOTE: The supervisor of the Oil Industry IT Championship is the Gazprom Neft Competence Center for Risks, Import Substitution and Business Continuity. The organizer is Energotechnohab Petersburg with the support of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, Gazprom Neft and the Case-In engineering Championship. The results of the championship are published on the official website event page.

Michael Collins, CEO of Salym Petroleum Development NV:

"The championship brought together a lot of interesting people! The theme of the event suggests a multi-disciplinary approach. Using the example of the organization of the continuity of drilling processes, we saw how a variety of specialists work together to achieve the goal. New technologies should harmoniously complement the work of employees. The case of the pandemic has shown us how standard business processes involving people are changing, such as data transmission and processing. This is the experience that we have come across at Salym Petroleum over the past two years. Therefore, it is very important to be prepared for IT system failures, to act flexibly and smoothly. We saw all this during the championship."

Anton Dumin, Director of the Gazprom Neft ITAT Directorate:

«IT-The oil Industry Championship attracted talented participants and experienced experts. Despite the fact that it is being held for the first time, the teams were able to perform well in solving the case, at the hackathon and in the process of defending their MVP. The potential of the created IT-the range of solutions is extensive: This is a response to business needs, including a response to foreign counterparts. I thank all the participants, experts and guests of the championship and hope to see you next year!"

Alexander Nikolaevich Sitnikov, Head of the Department of Business Efficiency Improvement Programs at Gazprom Neft:

"Technological development is impossible without new ideas! Such tasks as ensuring continuous drilling processes are based on high technologies. Improving the efficiency and security of IT solutions is our constant challenge and incentive for development. The championship became a challenge for the participants - and we got a lot of ideas for a real-life task, once again saw the potential of specialists in teams and their willingness to respond to business needs. We hope to maintain the atmosphere of partnership and continue to work together to develop information technologies for the oil industry."