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Oil&Gas Eurasia Looks Back on Its First Decade in the Russian Market

Pat Davis Szymczak

   Welcome to Oil&Gas Eurasia’s 10th Anniversary Issue! As Gold Sponsors of the 2010 Russian Petroleum & Gas Congress held alongside this year’s NEFTEGAZ Exhibition, we hope to see many of you at our gala dinner party. You’ll find your invitation in your Congress delegate pack – so be sure to attend RPGC.

   When I started Oil&Gas Eurasia 10 years ago, the Russian oil and gas industry was a much different place. Private oil companies controlled most of the country’s best oil reserves. Mikhail Khodorkovsky was soon to become the richest man in Russia. Gazprom was, as ever, state-owned, but at the time dozens of company managers also controlled individual fiefdoms inside the gas monopoly for their own profit. Oilfield services were departments inside vertically integrated majors. And Russia had yet to break ground on major pipelines that would bypass problem states such as Ukraine and Belarus.

   We know it’s different today – really different, and while we aren’t telling you anything new, we hope you enjoy our nostalgic look at “The Way We Were” (with apologies to the Hollywood movie about lost love by the same name).

   OGE has in this decade become the leader in advertising driven b2b oil and gas media in Russia. We are proud that independent reader surveys consistently rank OGE as No. 1 or 2 among independent energy titles in Russia. Some European publishers have tried to copycat OGE and as the trite, old saying goes, “imitation is the best compliment.” We are still the only BPA-audited circulation in Russia – of any genre!

   Advertiser response to our NEFTEGAZ/RPGC issue this year has been overwhelming. We’re proud to have Baker Hughes on our back cover and applaud their recent acquisition in Siberia of Russia’s second-largest ESP service provider. We welcome first time advertiser API (see p.5). Increasingly, Russian manufacturers of production, drilling and refinery equipment are participating in API certification programs to support exports or participate – even in Russia – in tenders where API certification is required. To learn more, visit
www.api.org or email [email protected]. It might be easier than you think.
Ooops! How could I forget? Shale gas! You’ll find in this issue the second installment of Svetlana Kristalinskaya’s three-part series on this global phenomenon. This month, Svetlana writes about Russia’s shale gas potential and that of Europe. I’d like to thank Halliburton, a leader in shale gas technologies globally, for its interest in “flying the flag” in this section. I’d also like to urge you to attend the Global Shale Gas Summit 2010 in Warsaw, July 19-20. This two-day event will look closely at shale exploration in Europe, with particular emphasis on Eastern Europe. Learn more at www.oilandgaseurasia.com and click the shale gas banner.

   So, see you at the Russian Petroleum & Gas Congress held alongside NEFTEGAZ 2010. As we do every year, Oil&Gas Eurasia’s team of red T-shirted boys and girls will be distributing our June issue to up to 8,000 exhibition and congress participants. Visit us at NEFTEGAZ in Pavillion 2, Stand 22E01. And visit us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/OilGasEurasia and learn how to qualify for a free Oil&Gas Eurasia baseball cap!

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