Innovative Development

The Innovative Development Program of PJSC Gazprom until 2025 (the "Program")Approved by resolution of the Board of Directors of PJSC Gazprom No. 3513 dated December 1, 2020. focuses on continuously improving technological and organizational capabilities of PJSC Gazprom to cement its position as a global energy company and a reliable energy supplier. The Program has a ten-year planning horizon and covers gas, oil, and power generation businesses of the Gazprom Group.

The Program relies on the principle of roll-out and refinement of innovation processes from PJSC Gazprom to its subsidiaries, by promoting the establishment and execution of their individual innovation development programs. Guidelines for applying this principle have been approved. Several subsidiaries have already drafted and are running their proprietary innovative development programs, with plans in place to roll out this initiative across other subsidiaries.

To deliver on the technological and organizational priorities of the Program, there are relevant R&D initiatives (plans) in place at PJSC Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Gazprom Energoholding, and other subsidiaries.

The Program prioritizes technological development with a focus on prospecting and exploration, and enhancing development efficiency, including greenfield, offshore, and unconventional resources. The Gazprom Group also monitors and develops technologies for enhancing the efficiency of gas transportation and storage, hydrocarbon processing, LNG production, gas marketing and utilization.

• improving innovation, corporate governance and long-term forecasting, cost and investment management, risk management;
• feasibility modeling;
• improving the pricing systems and tariff policy;
• increasing efficiency in the use of energy, natural, human and financial resources;
• reducing the cost of products and services;
• improving labor efficiency;
• mitigating environmental impacts of operations;
• improving the reliability and safety of production equipment;
• improving organizational capabilities.

The Gazprom Group has an advanced innovation management framework in place. It also has a standing R&D Commission, which considers whether and how PJSC Gazprom and its subsidiaries should implement R&D projects based on the principles of transparency, objectivity, and independence. In 2023, the Commission resolved to undertake 102 new R&D initiatives, a 32% increase year-on-year.

During the year, in line with the Commission’s decisions, three amendments to the R&D Program of PJSC Gazprom and its Subsidiaries for 2023 were drafted and approved to maintain R&D continuity and pace and to reduce lead times.

The Gazprom Group supports the ambition of small and medium-sized businesses to develop innovative proposals for its entities. PJSC Gazprom has a single point of contact system, where businesses can submit their proposals for introduction into the Gazprom Group’s operations. The system’s web portal covers the entire process of submitting an innovative proposal — from the application stage to obtaining the final opinion. In 2023, 80 new applications were registered and 43 expert opinions prepared. PJSC Gazprom’s Commission for Introduction of Innovative Products reviewed ten proposals and recorded nine items in the Register of Innovative Products, which currently contains 150 items, including 109 proposed by SMEs.

The Gazprom Group maximizes efforts to engage skilled researchers in designing innovating technologies for the gas industry. As a contribution to this drive, another annual contest for the PJSC Gazprom Science and Technology Prize was held. The 17 works showcased there were created by 29 Gazprom Group entities and five third-party organizations. The total economic effect from implementing top 10 winning projects exceeded RUB 50 billion.

The winner of the latest contest was the work titled “Development and implementation of gas ejection technology to reduce gas bleeding at compressor stations,” a research by Gazprom Transgaz Kazan in collaboration with PJSC Gazprom departments, Gazprom VNIIGAZ, and Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. The project brought an impressive result of 18 Russian patents.

The researchers designed a technology for transferring natural gas from compressor station (CS) equipment and pipelines scheduled for technical maintenance to inactive CS pipelines without additional energy consumption. This method not only maximizes gas savings but also mitigates atmospheric emissions.

The winning technology has already been integrated into industrial practices and is listed in the Register of Innovative Products recommended for roll-out at PJSC Gazprom. This technology is currently employed at Gazprom Transgaz Kazan’s compressor station.

In collaboration with research establishments, the Gazprom Group carries out numerous initiatives geared toward advancing Russian science and augmenting the efficiency of technology processes at Gazprom Group entities. This cooperation is part of the Innovative Development Program.

In its collaboration with universities the Gazprom Group pursues continuity, systemic approach, and innovations. They are included in the approved University Collaboration Concept and the Regulation on Collaboration of OJSC Gazprom and its Subsidiaries with Anchor UniversitiesApproved by order of OJSC Gazprom No. 422 dated September 4, 2014..

Educational collaboration categories:

• Anchor University of PJSC Gazprom for collaboration in training, professional development, and retraining of employees, and R&D initiatives across the Gazprom Group’s core operations;
• Special Partner of PJSC Gazprom for cooperation in training, professional development, and retraining of employees in certain (targeted) areas of expertise (professions);
• Basic Partner of PJSC Gazprom’s Subsidiary for collaboration in training, professional development, and retraining of employees, and R&D initiatives aligned with the core business of the Gazprom Group’s subsidiary.

Anchor universities create targeted R&D programs for the benefit of PJSC Gazprom. Based on such programs, the university can enter into R&D contracts that cover the topics included in the programs on a noncompetitive basis.

Anchor universities engaged by PJSC Gazprom undertake R&D initiatives spanning the entirety of its technological chain. Such collaborative research endeavors amplify the efficiency of technological processes. A joint initiative with St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University is underway, supported by PJSC Gazprom, to establish an innovative R&D center for marine robotics.