Gazprom Neft and ICS Holding to create digital products for industrial enterprises

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 Holding). Anton Cherepennikov, CEO at ICS Holding, was also present at the signing.

The two companies will work together to tackle challenges in the sector, using contemporary artificial intelligence 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.

“Along with our new partners, we will be developing relevant digital solutions which are scalable for the whole sector. 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,” says Andrey Belevtsev, Chief Digital Officer at Gazprom Neft.

“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. This enables the companies which make up the holding to work on projects with partners of Gazprom Neft’s standing,” comments Anton Cherepennikov, CEO at ICS Holding.

“Nexign’s 27 years of experience in business transformation for Tier 1 telecom operators, including large-scale projects on the international market, enables us 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,” adds Igor Gorkov, CEO at Nexign.

_{Gazprom Neft is a vertically-integrated oil company engaged primarily in oil and gas exploration, production, and refining, as well as the production and sale of petroleum products. Gazprom Neft’s corporate structure encompasses more than 70 enterprises engaged in oil production, refining, and sales in Russia, the CIS, and the rest of the world.}

_{Gazprom Neft ranks among the world’s top ten public companies for proven reserves of liquid hydrocarbons, and is a leader in terms of the speed at which these reserves are refilling. The company is one of the three largest oil producers and refiners in Russia. In 2018, the company extracted 92.9 million tonnes of oil equivalent and refined 42.9 million tonnes.}

_{Gazprom Neft’s net profit for 2018 was RUB 376.7 billion, a 49% increase on 2017. The company is an industry leader in terms of financial growth rates, and also for return on capital employed (an all-round performance indicator).}

_{The company’s principal shareholder is Gazprom (95.68%). The remaining shares are in free float.}

_{Intellectual Computer Systems Holding (ICS Holding LLC) is a Russian multidisciplinary IT group whose focus area includes investment, management and consolidation of the technology, media and telecom sector. ICS Holding brings together 23 IT companies, including the holdings Citadel, Forpost, KNS Group (YADRO), Kryptonit and JSC Peter-Service (Nexign).}

_{The total number of employees working in companies exceeds 6,500 people, and the geography of business covers all regions of Russia, as well as several countries near and far abroad. Among its priorities are the digital transformation of enterprise companies, information security, data storage systems, big data management and analytics, brings together 23 IT companies, predictive analytics, cryptography and quantum computing, machine learning and artificial neural networks, blockchain technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT).The mission of the Holding is to facilitate the development of a digital economy in Russia and to support domestic IT talent in various business sectors.}

_{Nexign, a part of the limited liability company Intellectual Computer Systems Holding (LLC ICS Holding) and a leading Business Support System (BSS) and Internet of Things (IoT) platform provider, has been delivering pragmatic, value-driven solutions focused on customers’ total cost of ownership since 1992. As communications service providers become digital service providers, Nexign accelerates their transformation through engineering excellence and agile products and services that facilitate revenue-stream diversification. Nexign takes pride in its partner-centric approach to working with customers. For more than 27 years, the company has delivered on its promise of unlocking value in the short term while ensuring customers’ investments are future-proof and support long-term growth.}

_{Headquartered in St Petersburg, Nexign employs 1,800 people in offices throughout Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The company has delivered more than 120 projects across 16 countries and had revenue of $200 million in 2018, an increase of 63 percent over 2017.}