“We are Ready to Provide Support and are Open to Initiatives”: Energy Industry Leaders Met with Schoolchildren at REW.Junior

An REW.Junior section, organized by the Content Foundation, was held as part of Russian Energy Week’s Youth Day. Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov, State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ESN Group Grigory Berezkin spoke to schoolchildren and university students in an open dialogue.

The speakers answered the young audience’s questions and described the most promising subject areas for future specialists and what skills they need to be successful in the energy, oil, and gas industries.

According to State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM’s Director General Alexey Likhachev, people in the nuclear energy sector need to display a cogent and thoughtful approach to their work.

“You are the future heads and organizers of our energy industry. Atomic energy is a very new industry. No other energy sector requires as much of a thoughtful, cogent, and incremental approach. The current step is carrying out the Presidential decision to expand the share of nuclear energy in the energy balance of our country to 25% by 2045,” said Likhachev.

Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov talked about the kind of specialists that the oil and gas industry needs. The speaker noted that, most importantly, future professionals must be ready for “changes in the market situation, be able to swiftly react to those changes, and have a high level of professional knowledge and skills”.

“The oil and gas sector is one of the most multifaceted and difficult specialties. It encompasses geological exploration, extraction, processing, transport, and interactions with chemical processes and consumers. No other industry can boast of objectives that are as complex or numerous. Which is why we need a wide range of specialists. We also rely on digital technologies, so if you are involved in digital technology and artificial intelligence, we would be glad to have such specialists in our company,” said Dyukov.

According to Chairman of the Board of Directors of ESN Group Grigory Berezkin, future specialists must know how to cooperate: “If ten people out of the group gathered here were to get together – with your potential, youth, and passion – they could create a company that would become a good aggregator in our country. We, for our part, are ready to provide you with support, aid, and guidance,” said Berezkin.

Chairman of the Youth Council for the Oil and Gas Sector at Russia’s Ministry of Energy Ruslan Fatkhutdinov explained that events such as REW.Junior can serve as a bridge between corporations, universities, and schoolchildren.

“The REW.Junior section, held as part of the Point Junior project, has indicated that companies are open to and ready for initiatives. The project needs to be developed and expanded to find out what the youth are interested in. Because not everyone who, for example, attends an oil and gas university understands what their next steps are and what professions they can choose from. Territorial and regional conditions must be considered and accounted for. It is important that young people are motivated to grow and can see how their careers may develop,” said Fatkhutdinov.

The REW.Junior section was organized by the Content Foundation for the Development of Expert and Analytical Activity, which organized events as part of the Point Junior discussion and communication platform with the support of Innopraktika and the Roscongress Foundation.

Point Junior youth tracks were included in the agendas of the 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2021) and the 6th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF 2021). A total of over 250 Russian and foreign school-age children and over 150 global business leaders, prominent government officials, and experts took part in the events.