In October, we co-hosted the eighth annual AspenTech – Gazprom Neft Conference in Moscow. AspenTech’s objective in partnering with Gazprom Neft was to confirm our commitment to helping our customers in Russia sustainably increase profit by achieving a high level of operational excellence and asset reliability.

The event’s focus was on innovative, problem-solving approaches to improve the operational efficiency of oil and gas refining processes. More than 150 delegates, the majority from Russian and international oil and gas companies including Gazprom, Gazprom Neft and Rosneft, took part in a series of presentations and seminars.

Presenters included Russia-based AspenTech customers, as well as international experts, who shared best practices and use cases of AspenTech solutions for complex business problems.

The conference opened with AspenTech and Gazprom Neft representatives speaking on the Gazprom Neft report "Possibilities of Efficiency Growth in Modern Conditions." Rompetrol then shared its experience of developing supply chain management in its operations. We also heard from NIS, one of the largest vertically integrated energy companies in Southeast Europe, discussing the effectiveness of Aspen PIMS-AO™, AspenTech’s leading production planning solution.

Day one focused on supply chain management with a special focus on the AspenTech approach to problem-solving though asset optimization across the design, operation and maintenance of assets. Michael Harmse, senior director of product management at AspenTech, shared our latest Asset Optimization innovations and discussed how this concept works in the current economic realities of the oil and gas industry.

Day two looked at advanced process control (APC) with a case study about the successful implementation of APC to the oil refining process carried out by Rompetrol. AspenTech consultants presented the results of benchmarking and analysis of industrial use of APC.

Unipetrol and Cepsa also shared their experiences in the field of modelling and optimization of technology and production processes with AspenTech solutions.

Delegate feedback has since told us that this conference is a very important event for the Russian energy industry, providing a great opportunity for the leading global firms to hear about the latest process and asset optimization technologies, to share best practices and to network. We’re already looking forward to the 2018 event!