News

Regarding the update from last week, a further executive order has been issued resulting in an extension to the shutdown period until 30 April. As such, all Rusneftegaz offices are to remain closed, and as a result our organization will continue to have a limited capacity to respond to any non-urgent communications. Following this announcement, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, gave these remarks: 

“It is obviously very important that we remain closed considering the circumstances. It is a very concerning time for all of us, and we do not want anyone to become sick, or worse. I urge all our staff to be vigilant and to be strong at this time, and to follow all the rules at all times. I would like to place on record my thanks to all our staff, who are working hard despite the obvious challenges. I would especially like to thank all our staff that are continuing to work as normal, whose efforts are extraordinary and are making us all proud. Together, we will come back stronger from this.” 

Pertaining to the electronic communications received previously, all employees that were instructed to continue reporting to work on 26 March should continue to do so as normal. Any staff queries regarding this announcement should be directed to the appropriate manager, and although we can still accept questions from third parties via all the conventional means, please be aware that there may be a delay in response time. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding with this matter during this difficult period.

After consultation with a significant proportion of interested parties the board of directors has elected to adjourn the planned Annual General Meeting, which was scheduled to be held in Moscow on 10 April, until further notice. Recent developments with regards to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have made it logistically impossible to hold such an event at this unprecedented time, although the 2020 Consolidated Financial Statements are still expected to be published on 7 April electronically. In the aftermath of this change, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, gave the following statement: 

“It is obviously extremely disappointing that we are having to postpone our AGM (Annual General Meeting), but it is something that we have been preparing for considering everything that is happening at the moment. Obviously, the situation is changing very rapidly, and we are all doing our best to keep ourselves updated with what is happening. It is a very concerning time for us, and we are doing everything we can to act in the best interests of all our staff, and the best interests of Rusneftegaz. I am optimistic that once this has passed, we will be able to host the AGM as normal, it is one of the highlights of our calendar.” 

Pending further updates, our executive leadership is currently examining the prospects of holding this conference remotely within the next eight weeks, in addition to an in-person Extraordinary General Meeting later in the year. In the coming days, we will do our utmost to ensure that all parties affected by this will be duly informed of any further updates to our anticipated schedule, although all such affairs may change considering the wider circumstances. Although we have taken proactive measures to communicate with those of whom we expect to be involved in the discussions, we extend an invitation to anyone with further inquiries to promptly contact us via any of the usual means. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding at this challenging time.

An executive order has been issued from the President of the Russian Federation instructing that the week from 30 March until 3 April is to be a non-working week. As a direct consequence of this, all non-essential workplaces are to temporarily close with immediate effect, including all Rusneftegaz corporate and regional offices. However, due to the fact that we have a plethora of continuous operations that cannot be suspended or shut down, all staff should be aware that their managers will send electronic communications tomorrow to inform whether it will be necessary to report to work during this period. As these facilities will continue operate as normal during this timeframe, our board of directors has published a comprehensive plan to mitigate the threat of coronavirus on our operations, and also to minimize the number of staff required on these sites. Foremost, this shall entail substantially increasing the number of both internal and external communications regarding the pandemic, as recommended by Rospotrebnadzor, to ensure each member of our workforce is alert to inherent risks of contagion. In order to help facilitate this, posters are to be displayed outlining these changes, and all new procedures will be constantly reviewed for their effectiveness by management. Any deliberate attempt to undermine these new procedures will result in disciplinary action. Considering these major developments, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, subsequently issued these remarks: 

“This is not only a very concerning time for Rusneftegaz, but for the entire world. It would normally be very disappointing to have to shut down parts of the business, but considering the circumstances, I can honestly say that I support this decision. This appears to be a major threat to us, and at the moment saving lives is more important than our profit margins. I hope that I can reassure all our staff by saying that we are doing everything we can to prevent the spread of coronavirus here at Rusneftegaz by taking all the measures that we can. From a personal perspective, I have no intention of placing my family and I in any form of danger, so we will not be returning until it is safe to do so. Fortunately, by taking action now, I think we will be able to return in a few weeks, all this will have passed, and we will be safe again. I also think it is a good time for the board and I to place on record our thanks to all our staff that will be working as normal during this time. I would also like to thank all the staff who will be working from their homes for the next few weeks. We are facing a difficult time, but we are doing so together, and I pray to God that this will end and we can return to normal soon.” 

As an organization with a broad range of interests, each business within our company grouping will be affected uniquely, and whilst management has deployed the utmost diligence in the preparation of these measures, they are still subject to change if advice from external bodies is modified. For those asked to report to work, all staff are to face temperature checks upon arrival, with any workers displaying an abnormal result being ejected from the site immediately. All workers are to have access to hand sanitizer in every room, and all workstations are to be routinely disinfected by cleaning staff throughout the day. Similarly, the handover procedures for shift changes have been reconfigured to minimize personal contact, and all meetings are to be cancelled or held electronically. Likewise, selected members of our staff will begin to work remotely, and any employees enrolled on education programs will now complete their courses electronically rather than at an institution. All business travel, both in Russia and internationally, has been suspended with immediate effect. Correspondingly, the board of directors is set to deliberate the future on the 2020 Annual General Meeting in consultation with key stakeholders, whilst all other corporate events due to be held in April have been postponed indefinitely. As a consequence of these changes, we will have limited capacity to respond to any nonessential communications during the week of the closure, including to any electronic or telephone messages. Therefore, we request that all staff queries be directed to their manager, who will have received a comprehensive briefing with regards to these new arrangements. External questions via all the existing channels are still welcome, but may be affected by our reductions in working capacity throughout this period. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding with this vital matter.

Rusneftegaz can announce that we have renewed our research and development program for a further five years, which shall enable our organization to build upon the work of the past decade. In a broader context, this involves continuing the majority of our ongoing projects through to completion, in conjunction with new schemes to facilitate the growth of our company in the years ahead. For instance, our technical staff will remain engaged with our proposals to engineer upgrades for our coal-fired steam generators, that operate as an essential part of our power plants. This should ultimately result in considerable reductions in fuel consumption and both pollution and carbon emissions. Likewise, at the culmination of this plan, Rusneftegaz intends to widen the scope of our studies into other major components within generation units, namely turbines and condensers. Whilst our corporation will not have the capacity to manufacture such apparatus ourselves in the near future, our scientists can, however, make observations and recommendations that can be implemented at any plants that Rusneftegaz acquires, either in Russia or abroad, over the course of the next decade. This information can additionally be utilized in the design of modular power units, which our organization could one day construct at locations across the globe, primarily to expand our generating capacity. Following the disclosures regarding this extensive program, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, remarked: 

“The board and I have been extremely impressed by the work that was done by our research and development team over the past five years, and now is the opportune moment to place on record our thanks to all of them personally. But it is also a good time to start thinking about the future. Last year, we were in serious negotiations to buy power plants in India, but unfortunately, those negotiations were unsuccessful. Now, the senior leadership and I are accountable for that, but it is fair to say that this has also provided some benefits for other areas of our business. The original plan was that the project researching steam generators would be finalized when our team could adapt the generators of an existing plant and get it working again, with a bit of improvisation if necessary. Now that there has been more time to think about it, we now think it is best to take a far more meticulous approach to this. We have allocated additional time to this part of our research, and I am optimistic that by the time we do acquire a plant, the designs would have long since been finalized. Once that is finished, we should be able to move onto the next phases of our research; designing a universal power station that could be situated anywhere in the world. These two projects together will provide the long-term basis for our future plans in the energy sector, and I think that we have the capacity to implement this properly. It shows how important good research and development is to a company like Rusneftegaz. Five years ago, this was just an oil company, that also happened to own a few power generating units in Russia, but five years in the future, Rusneftegaz will be an energy conglomerate with interests in multiple continents. Personally, I think that is a major achievement, and all those who helped us do this should be extremely proud of themselves.” 

In conjunction with these two flagship proposals, Rusneftegaz will also continue to experiment with how hydrogen can be transformed into a useful fuel, such as through electrolysis or catalytic reformation. Although there has been less progress with this study than there has been in other areas, our management remains of the steadfast belief that existing and future battery technology is inherently limited by both the limits of chemistry, in addition to the scarcity of the rare elements of which these are composed. Thus, we believe that most industries will seek alternative solutions to fulfill their, depending on location, statutory requirements to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and the colorless and odorless gas is the most effective ecological conduit to do so. Should this particular scheme be successful, Rusneftegaz could be a market leader in hydrogen production in the near future, specifically when it is considered that almost all other major corporations are focusing all their efforts into electrochemical cells, and neglecting viable, alternative solutions. By the judgment of our board of directors, it is a calculated risk to apportion an increased percentage of our allocated budget into this venture, and when our existing research capacity and monetary resources are taken into account, these uncertainties are minimized further. As such, the board has deemed it appropriate to spend significant funds on the construction of a new, combined facility for these activities to take place in. The site will merge our existing workshops with a state-of-the-art laboratory, and provide a base for all our activities in Western Siberia. Despite the fact these plans are preliminary at this time; management anticipates this hub opening, with an abundance of modern instruments, tools and paraphernalia correspondingly, by 2026.   

Whilst our work to improve the next generation of sustainable technologies is a long-term endeavor, in the immediate months and years ahead, the primary focus of our engineers will be to respond to the day-to-day scientific and technological needs of our organization. Such undertakings involve a broad range of unique requirements, including analyzing and adapting the latest best working practices to our circumstances. This is in addition to ensuring the longevity and viability of our infrastructure and equipment, principally through the deployment of the highest maintenance standards achievable. These personnel will also be expected to formulate critical opinions and give informed advice with regard to the acquisition of new assets and apparatus when necessary, particularly in areas where a high degree of specialist knowledge is required. To facilitate this, Rusneftegaz has renewed our commitment to the ongoing education of all of our employees for the duration of this scheme, with the intention that the information and understanding accumulated can be utilized where needed within our organization. Thus, it is the intention of our board of directors to extend the partnerships we have formed with other companies and institutions over the course of our corporate history. Collaborations with these parties remain a fundamental principle of our broader research and development strategy, ultimately for the mutual benefit of all involved actors. For example, Rusneftegaz has previously supported the work of local and international seismologists by providing both data and materials for their geological surveys, with this backing set to continue long into the future. 

Centrally, this program has been conceptualized to expand upon the work completed under its immediate precursor, in conjunction with the broader progress that our organization has registered since 2015. At its core, Rusneftegaz thrives upon being a dynamic and innovative company, constantly seeking to better our existing business practices and grow expeditiously. Therefore, our management will strive to adequately protect any intellectual property that should emerge from our invention, should the opportunity to do so arise. Such actions will not merely be in the best interest of Rusneftegaz, but also for the wider benefit of the Russian Federation, and in certain circumstances, the world. To enable this aforementioned global progression, our company plans to establish multiple prizes for breakthroughs in the energy sector from 2025 onwards. This policy has been devised for both children and adults to both propose viable solutions to some of the great conundrums of our age, and potentially be remunerated with a financial reward for their ideas. The creation of this award is anticipated to provide valuable external opinions for our researchers and senior leadership to analyze, which could ultimately yield the alternative views that could be transformation for our company and our wider activities. Although Rusneftegaz always appoints the most talented and intelligent individuals on merit, it is at times necessary to prevent hegemonic viewpoints from being collectively formed. The opening date for entries for the first year of this prize will be announced in due course, in conjunction with any updates affiliated with our broader development strategy.