The document was signed by Vadim Yakovlev, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Neft Management Board and Damir Valeev, CEO, Gazprom Burenie LLC, during the 10th Petersburg International Gas Forum, with the partners agreeing on long-term technical cooperation in developing and testing innovative solutions for robotising drilling processes. Any products developed will be used to modernise existing equipment, as well as being deployed on new drilling rigs.

The prototype for the robotised drilling unit was developed as part of the Petersburg EnergyHUB project, and involved Gazprom Neft, Uralmash NGO Holding LLC, Yandex.Cloud and Bitrobotics.

The drilling robot has been developed with the intention of reducing lead-times as well as capital and operating costs in hydrocarbon production. Digitalising drilling processes will also improve industrial safety by eliminating manual labour and minimising human involvement in mechanised operations.

The Memorandum of Cooperation envisages Gapzrom Neft and Gazprom Burenie working together on producing technological products for improving efficiency in oil and gas production.