Russian oil major Gazprom Neft has joined hands with Intellectual Computer Systems Holding (ICS Holding), a multidisciplinary IT group to set up a new venture which will bring to market, technology to support digital transformation in the oil and gas industry.

The agreement was signed at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum by Andrey Belevtsev, Chief Digital Officer at Gazprom Neft, and Igor Gorkov, CEO at Peter-Service (which operates under the Nexign brand and is part of ICS) in the presence of ICS Holding CEO Anton Cherepennikov.

As per the deal, the two companies will work together to tackle challenges in the sector, using contemporary artificial intelligence (AI) systems and advanced data processing algorithms to support management decisions.

More specifically, Gazprom Neft and ICS Holding intend to develop new ecosystems for collaboration with B2B clients and partners, software packages to evaluate asset investment decisions, and universal logistics automation services, said the statement from Gazprom Neft.

Nexign will be participating in the joint venture on behalf of ICS Holding. The holding’s other IT subdivisions will also be involved, offering their technical expertise, integrated support for new developments, and assistance with introducing these developments into enterprises’ business processes.

The deal is expected to be closed in the third quarter of 2019. The new company will be focused not only on Russian markets, but also on international markets.

The joint venture will operate on a parity basis. The target number of employees for the new company could be as many as 600, including specialists in IT and engineering.

"Along with our new partners, we will be developing relevant digital solutions which are scalable for the whole sector," remarked Belevtsev.

"The joint venture will commercialise the technological value created by our specialists on the basis of our own unique expertise in the digital transformation of major industrial assets," he stated.  

On the deal, Cherepennikov said: "The overall objective of our partnership with Gazprom Neft is the digital transformation of an entire industry, along with the development and implementation of effective solutions which will help to optimise production and cut costs."

"As things stand, there are not many mature IT companies on the market who are ready to implement projects of this scale. ICS Holding has deep expertise and its own methodology, and is familiar with the relevant technologies and processes," he stated.

"This enables the companies which make up the holding to work on projects with partners of Gazprom Neft’s standing," he added.

Gorkov pointed out that Nexign’s 27 years of experience in business transformation for Tier 1 telecom operators, including large-scale projects on the international market, has enabled it to rapidly find common ground with major partners and clients.

"Our company also possesses unique expertise in developing software solutions for business-critical systems, which allows our clients to reduce time-to-market for their products and services. We believe that the joint venture based around Nexign will be an effective platform for tackling important challenges surrounding digital transformation, both within and outside of Russia," he added.-TradeArabia News Service