The event was attended by students from universities in the Republic of Tatarstan (Kazan Federal University, Kazan National Research Technological University, Almetyevsk State Technological University, as well as winners of the “Golden Legacy of the WPC” Scholarship, representing 7 universities across Russia.
Seven teams from different countries worked together to create a strategy for developing the competencies of an oil and gas company in order to help it adapt to global changes and new technologies.
The participants were tasked with proposing a strategic vision and developing a set of measures to help the company modernize its business processes, increase its competitiveness, and improve customer interactions in a rapidly changing innovation landscape.
The tasks for the teams were prepared by the WPC Energy RNC Youth committee in collaboration with experts from “Tatneft” company.
To read more about event, please, follow the link: https://kazan-ogc.ru/tpost/krmjiao031-itogi-provedeniya-forsait-sessii-kompete
On August 27-28, 2025, the two-day Foresight Session "Competencies of the Future Specialist" was held at the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Centre. The event was organized by the Association "Russian National Committee of the World Petroleum Council" and the ANO "Kazan Expo".
This year's session was themed "Sustainability Technologies: Ecology as a Driver of Innovation in the Oil and Gas Industry." The large-scale intellectual marathon brought together 8 student teams from 11 leading Russian universities, representing Almetyevsk, Kazan, Astrakhan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Tyumen, and Stavropol.
A distinctive feature of this year's program was the inaugural inclusion of industrial tours to leading sites in Tatarstan. Participants visited JSC "Nefis Cosmetics" – a leader in the chemical industry – and Technopolis "Khimgrad" – a flagship of innovative development. This unique hands-on experience provided a valuable foundation for the subsequent work at the foresight session, allowing students to immerse themselves in the industry's real-world production and scientific processes.
The participants' key task was to develop a detailed working map forecasting the development of the petrochemical industry for decades to come. The work progressed in five stages: trend identification, trend analysis, technology selection, risk and opportunity analysis, and finally, forecasting key catalyst events.
At the first stage, participants proposed about 25 diverse trends. Through heated discussions, the expert community and the teams finalized the 9 most significant ones:
1. Strengthening measures to prevent environmental pollution.
2. Increasing the degree of hydrocarbon processing.
3. Decarbonization.
4. Implementation of environmental recycling.
5. Reduction in the use of minerals.
6. Increase in the number of environmental initiatives.
7. Growing use of alternative energy sources (AES).
8. Improvement of extraction technologies.
9. Reduction of toxicity in petrochemical products.
During the analysis, most trends were recognized as stable, demonstrating steady growth, while trends #6 (increase in environmental initiatives) and #8 (improvement of extraction technologies) were categorized as uncertain.
At the technology selection stage, the teams worked across four planning horizons: near-term (2025-2030), medium-term (2030-2050), long-term (2050-2070), and "obvious-implausible." Participants not only generated bold ideas but also justified their potential timeframes for implementation. The most standout proposals included:
* Nanofiber mesh for oil spill cleanup.
* Personal protective equipment (PPE) made from recycled plastic.
* Piezoelectric roads that generate energy.
* "Exo-ants" for autonomous monitoring of sludge storage wall conditions.
* A grid system for physical field scanning.
* "Vertebrate pipes" – a new concept of flexible and maintainable pipelines.
As the experts noted, the teams' ideas were not only creative but also backed by scientific logic and in-depth analysis.
The final steps involved analyzing the risks and opportunities of technology implementation and forming a list of events that could accelerate their emergence. Ultimately, the participants created a comprehensive, multifaceted forecast for the technological future of the industry.
Special attention was paid to awarding the most active and creative participants. PJSC "Tatneft" recognized three top students, and a special nomination "Generators of the Future" was awarded to the most proactive and productive team. The awards were presented by experts from PJSC "Tatneft" named after V.D. Shashin, Kirill Valentinovich Molodtsov, and Dmitry Vladimirovich Guskоv.
The Foresight Session served as a unique platform for dialogue between experienced professionals and future leaders of the oil and gas industry, laying the groundwork for their further fruitful cooperation and the implementation of the most ambitious projects.Форсайт-сессия стала уникальной площадкой для диалога между опытными профессионалами и будущими лидерами нефтегазовой отрасли, заложив основу для их дальнейшего плодотворного сотрудничества и воплощения в жизнь самых смелых проектов.
