Gazprom Neft and ICS Holding have concluded a preliminary agreement to create a joint venture 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.
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.
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.
“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,” said Belevtsev.
“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. This enables the companies which make up the holding to work on projects with partners of Gazprom Neft’s standing,” commented Anton Cherepennikov, CEO at ICS Holding.
“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,” added Gorkov.
