The Russian Energy Week International Forum 2022 (REW) took place at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow on 12–14 October. REW is a major platform for the discussion of current trends in the fuel and energy industry in order to find solutions to key issues facing the industry. The slogan of this year’s REW is ‘Global Energy in a Multipolar World’. The Forum was organized by the Roscongress Foundation and the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation with the support of the Moscow Government.
As part of the Forum’s business programme and the REW Youth Day, over 70 events were held, involving 270 speakers. REW 2022 had more than 3,000 participants and media representatives from Russia and 83 other countries and territories.
For the first time, the Russian Energy Week International Forum was attended by representatives of such countries and territories as Yemen, the Cayman Islands, Nicaragua, Rwanda and Chad.
Business programme
The key event on the Forum agenda was the plenary session ‘New Challenges, New Opportunities: What’s in Store for the Oil and Gas Market?’ during which Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the participants with an opening speech.
“The modern global energy industry faces unprecedented challenges and problems. For many years, the world community has been driven into this situation by the short-sighted, erroneous actions of a number of Western countries [...] Despite the pressure from sanctions and sabotage of infrastructure, we do not intend to give up our positions. We will continue to ensure stable energy security and develop ties with the countries that are interested in this […] The social gasification programme is picking up steam. However, for many citizens, the cost of gas equipment and work on their land is a serious burden, a huge burden on the family budget. I ask the regional authorities to ensure the provision of subsidies to needy citizens to purchase gas equipment and conduct the appropriate on their land. This subsidy should amount to at least RUB 100,000 per connection,” Vladimir Putin said in his speech.
Other speakers at the plenary session included Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bolat Akchulakov, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Turkey Fatih Donmez, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov, and Gazprom Chairman of the Management Committee and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors Alexey Miller.
The discussion at the plenary session addressed such key issues as the impact of geopolitics on the global oil and gas market, prospects for the development of the global oil and gas sector in the next decade, including liquefied natural gas, and the impact of OPEC, the GECF, and BRICS on the prospects for the development of the global energy sector. In addition, the experts discussed how Russia will adapt to new conditions and what the country’s share of global hydrocarbon exports will be in the future.
“The deliberate policy for many years has been to abandon Russian gas altogether. As a result, we are seeing that there is a shortage of energy resources in many places today. This primarily refers to the European market. Large energy flows are being redirected from one region to another, which, in turn, increases costs. This problem requires the establishment of new logistics chains and the transformation of energy flows. As for Russia, our energy sector is stable today. We are working to pivot our resources to the east. And we expect the country to remain one of the main energy partners in the world,” Alexander Novak said.
Participants in the session ‘Global Energy Trends: Today and Tomorrow’ discussed such key issues as defending sovereignty when making decisions about sustainable energy in the face of unprecedented external pressure, while taking into account international experience in protecting national interests as regards the provision of affordable hydrocarbon fuel, as well as measures taken by Russian market players to comply with their interests and achieve sustainable development goals in the complex geopolitical realities. The discussion was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjarto, Gazprom Neft Chairman of the Management Board and CEO Alexander Dyukov, NOVATEK Chairman of the Management Board and Member of the Board of Directors Leonid Mikhelson, and VEB.RF Chairman Igor Shuvalov, among other speakers.
The environmental and social agenda was a key focus of the Forum. The social policy of companies was addressed, specifically investment in human resources. The Forum included presentations of the conditions for international cooperation to develop a low-carbon hydrogen industry, new opportunities for the industry in connection with new challenges, ways to ensure the energy transition in the fight against climate change, and many other key issues.
The expert community also discussed other equally important themes for the industry, such as technological sovereignty, digital transformation, the creation of energy transition technology, and cooperation between science, business, and the state. In particular, a meeting was held on import substitution in the fuel and energy sector, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov.
“The world is going through an international energy crisis today. That’s why it is so crucial now for states to engage in dialogue and cooperation, while also coming together in unions based on the principle of partnership. For the fifth time, Russian Energy Week brought together representatives of the industry, the authorities, the business community, experts, and journalists. The participants discussed world markets and talked about new solutions for the fuel and energy industry. Several international meetings took place,” said Anton Kobyakov, Adviser to the Russian President and Executive Secretary of the REW Organizing Committee.
Per tradition, the awards ceremony for winners of the Global Energy International Prize was held on the sidelines of Russian Energy Week. This year’s winners were Viktor Orlov (Russia) in the Conventional Energy category for his fundamental research on the development of innovative energy technologies based on fast reactors with a heavy alloy coolant and a closed fuel cycle; Mercouri Kanatzidis (USA) in the Non-conventional Energy category for his major advances made in solar energy conversion with the use of novel perovskite halides; Kaushik Rajasekara (USA) in the New Ways of Energy Applications category for his outstanding contributions to transportation electrification and energy efficiency technologies while reducing power generation emissions.
The winners were determined by an independent international award committee, which includes scientists from 11 countries: Hungary, India, China, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, and Japan. The committee is chaired by Nobel laureate Rae Kwon Chung.
Agreements
Russian and foreign companies as well as state-owned organizations signed 30 agreements and memorandums during Russian Energy Week.
The Russian Energy Agency of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation signed a number of key documents, including a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with the Association of Economic Cooperation with African States and a letter of cooperation with the ASEAN Centre for Energy, which calls for expanding cooperation between Russia and ASEAN in the energy sector. Specific areas of joint work with the Energy Centre will include the collection and analysis of energy statistics as well as issues concerning the use of natural gas and the development of the carbon market.
Rosseti signed an agreement on strategic cooperation with National Electric Grid of Kyrgyzstan, as well as with the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI). The agreement aims to update the methodology used in the National Investment Climate Ranking for Russia’s regions and specifically improve the quality of analysis on the effectiveness of procedures to hook up infrastructure facilities
RusHydro signed a number of cooperation agreements with Russian companies, including Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russian Railways, and Positive Technologies. The agreements concern cooperation in the implementation of educational programmes, ensuring the safe operation of infrastructure facilities of Russian Railways, including hydraulic, artificial, and energy facilities, as well as the cybersecurity of information systems.
In addition, United Petrochemical Company and China’s Xuanyuan Industrial Development Co. Ltd signed an agreement on the sidelines of REW 2022 on a strategic partnership for the development of trade and industrial relations between Chinese and Russian companies. One of the priority focuses of the partnership is cooperation in joint projects for the supply of energy resources and cargo, including biodiesel fuel, coal, bulk, hazardous, and non-hazardous cargo, and liquefied hydrocarbon gases. To this end, the parties agreed to jointly implement a project to build a new railway transport and logistics centre near the railway bridge over the Amur River on two land plots in the Jewish Autonomous Region near the Nizhneleninskoye–Tongjiang border crossing.
Participants
The Forum was attended by 15 foreign ministers from Azerbaijan, Algeria, Hungary, Venezuela, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Mali, Myanmar, UAE, Syria, Turkey, and Sri Lanka. The Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus took part in the Forum via videoconferencing.
The event was attended by the heads of 42 diplomatic corps.
Heads of international organizations and associations who participated in REW 2022 included: African Energy Chamber Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk; ASEAN Centre for Energy Executive Director Nuki Agya Utama; Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Olga Algayerova; Chairman of the Executive Committee of the CIS Electric Power Council Taras Kupchikov; Executive Secretary of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Sergey Pospelov; and State Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev.
Russian officials who attended the event included: Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak; Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and Minister of Energy Nikolay Shulginov; the heads of nine Russian regions, and the directors of six federal services and agencies.
Key representatives of Russian business included Gazprom Chairman of the Management Board Alexey Miller; Gazprom Neft Chairman of the Management Board and CEO Alexander Dyukov; Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation Director General Alexey Likhachev; NOVATEK Chairman of the Management Board Leonid Mikhelson; and Zarubezhneft CEO Sergey Kudryashov.
Representatives of major foreign businesses included Essar Global Fund Limited Co-Founder Ravi Ruia; Basra Oil Company CEO Khalid Hamza Abbas; Vietnam Power Group CEO Tran Dinh Nhan; Syrian Gas Company CEO Amin Aldagri; and Syrian Petroleum Company CEO Feras Kaddour .
Youth Day
Russian Energy Week concluded with Youth Day on 14 October. More than 1,000 participants attended the event, including students from Russian universities, young professionals, rectors and university professors, experts, and CEOs of industry companies. The REW Youth Day programme included roughly 40 events dedicated to the promotion of the fuel and energy industry and engineering education.
The central event was a panel discussion that was attended by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak, representatives of leaders of the fuel and energy industry and major companies, as well as young industry leaders. The guests held discussions with young people about the prospects for the development of energy, digitalization in the industry, the initiatives of young professionals and students, and other themes. During the session, awards were presented to the winners of federal industry competitions.
Partners
General gas partner – Gazprom
General nuclear partner – ROSATOM
Strategic partners – Rosseti and Transneft
Official partners – NOVATEK, Sberbank, Gazprom Neft, and Surgutneftegas
Partners – Metalloinvest Management Company, Tatneft, RusHydro, SIBUR, and Irkutsk Oil Company
Business partners – Lukoil, Inter RAO Electric Power Plants, Zarubezhneft, RussNeft Oil Company, and Gazprombank
Business programme partners – Fund for Assistance to Housing and Public Utilities Reform, En+ Group, Russian Railways, Rosneft, T Plus, and the Russian Energy Agency of the Russian Ministry of Energy
Organizational partners – Promsyryoimport, Rusenergosbyt, the Saint-Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange, Unipro, SO UES, SUEK, Global Energy Association, and the Russian Society Znanie
Investment partner – Russian Direct Investment Fund
Youth Day Partner – Reliable Change Charitable Foundation