No. 3, 2007
Dmitry Gurtovoy
OIL AND GAS ON THE INTERNET
Today, data on the oil and gas industry is in high demand in the Russian Internet segment
Russia's oil and gas complex could not stand aside from the mainstream of IT development. This is currently promoted by the presence on the market of a whole number of companies capable of creating and maintaining Internet projects. In addition, according to the statistics, the oil and gas industry is one of those most suited to the creation of B2B solutions thanks to the existence of several big companies with their own extensive sales networks and a large number of distributors working on several markets.
A million barrels of information
The availability of information on the oil and gas industry on the Internet may be recognized as being good. It is not just a matter of the existence of a series of major information projects, but also of balanced solutions - abundance of information on the market and analysis of the industry. Alongside this structure, extensive use is made of catalogues and databases of the facilities in this industry. Also worth noting is the integration of information and trading solutions, which is characteristic of certain sectors of industry, i.e., a number of resources that are positioned as trading ones contain an extensive list of information materials and can be used not only for making contact with potential partners, but also for obtaining information. First of all, however, let us turn to solutions that are entirely informational.
In this category, two types of participants may be identified - Internet projects and online versions of magazines. Apart from solutions specializing in providing information on the market, catalogues of resources of the oil and gas complex are also worth mentioning.
As examples of network information resources, a number of projects may be offered: Neft Rossii magazine (oilru.com), Neftegazovaya vertikal (www.ngv.ru), Derrick.ru (www.derrick.ru), RusEnergy.com (www.rusenergy.com) and PravoTEK (www.lawtek.ru).
Common to all these solutions is presentation of news and analytical information about events and happenings in the industry.
Neft Rossii is rightly considered as one of the best known and detailed resources in this sphere. The site, which operates under the slogan "A million barrels of information," offers a whole list of issues: news of the oil and gas industry, analytical materials, and information on industry events (exhibitions, conferences). In addition, electronic version of the LUKOIL magazines Neft Rossii, Oil of Russia and Social Partnership are published on the site.
The Neftegazovaya vertikal server includes an electronic version of the eponymous magazine, as well as the latest industry news and event announcements. In addition, a number of materials on industry statistics and legislation are published on the site, as well as analytical overviews and press reviews. Alongside the information about the market, the site includes a catalogue of sites of companies operating on the oil and gas market.
The Derrick.ru project, set up with the participation of the Union of producers of oil and gas equipment, offers visitors full information about the operation of the oil and gas equipment market. The main goals of the projects are: assisting Russian companies in promoting their output on the domestic and foreign oil and gas markets, arranging direct links between producers and consumers of the industry's equipment, drawing investments into research institutes, design bureaus and factories of the industry.
The RusEnergy.com server consists of several key sectors - fuel and energy sector news, reviews, ratings of oil and gas companies, as well as oil and gas industry statistics for Russia and a number of other countries.
PravoTEK is an independent information and analytical resource specializing in providing up-to-date information about legal processes in the sphere of nature use, the environment and the power industry of Russia and other CIS countries. Its basic information blocks are legal news containing the latest information about recent changes in the fuel and energy complex of Russia and other CIS states, as well as domestic and foreign experience of handling legal disputes in this sphere, articles and interviews on the most current legal issues and problems, public statements by and disputes between leading experts in the sphere of nature use, the environment and the power industry, case law, constantly updated monitoring of the legislation on the subsoil, the list and texts of draft laws, and databases of the most important regulatory and legal acts in the industry, a calendar of industry events and a dossier on the most important appointments, major projects and business cards of representatives of the professional community.
Oil and gas online
In terms of the number of B2B e-commerce solutions, the oil and gas complex can be included among the leading sectors of industry. A number of solutions can already be noted that allow companies to interact with one another by the Internet. Let us look at such solutions in more detail.
At the present moment, there are three main e-commerce solutions: Platts.ru (www.platts.ru), Inmarsys (www.inmarsys.ru) and Neftegaz (www.neftegaz.ru). Even though there are not few resources, it may be noted that they are geared to different segments of the market - Platts.ru specializes in petroleum products, Inmarsys is a project for the oil and gas equipment market and Neftegaz operates in both these spheres.
Moreover, the resources make use of different trading models allowing companies to interact with one another: the catalogue model (used by Platts.ru and Inmarsys) and the exchange model (used by Neftegaz together with a store).
Use of both models is effective and each has its own advantages. For thorough structurization, for instance, the catalogue model allows companies to find the products they require with ease and place their own announcements. The exchange model makes it possible to buy and sell goods at the most beneficial prices.
Also worth mentioning are the additional services provided to the clients of these systems. Above all, these consist in provision of information by the given trading floors. In this, it is Neftegaz that is most successful, being not only a trading floor, but also one of the fullest information resources in this industry.
Scaling the IT-heights
As the experts note, Russian oil and gas companies are demonstrating an interest in using Internet technologies, as can be seen from the volume of B2B floor applications and the existence of companies' own solutions. Moreover, it should be noted that the percentage of companies with their own Internet solutions is much higher in this industry than in others. Characteristically, oil and gas industry companies have their own domain names and a fully functional website.
The companies often use similar working patterns, allowing them to present an optimal volume of information to different categories of visitors - shareholders, customers (purchasing organizations) and so on.
The greatest attention is focused on the companies themselves - their history, achievements and projects under implementation or planned. It is also worth noting that financial information is provided in a special section - companies' financial reports, data on share quotes, and so on.
Examples of how such a pattern is used are provided by big companies such as LUKOIL (www.lukoil.ru), Gazprom (www.gazprom.ru), TNK-BP (www.tnk-bp.ru) and a number of others.
In this case, an Internet solution may be considered chiefly as an element with the help of which the company can present its objectives and mission. This explains why the majority of companies place materials on social programs under implementation, environmental protection, and so on. Publication of financial information and share quotes also helps form a successful image of the company.
Confirmation of the success of such solutions is provided by the fact that, last year, the LUKOIL corporate website took first place in the Russian Top26 rating performed by the Financial Times Webranking, as the best in terms of the extent of disclosure of financial information and corporate information in English. The rating has been carried out every year for the last nine years in a row by the Swedish consulting firm Hallvarsson & Halvarsson in conjunction with the company Financial Dynamics and The Financial Times newspaper, and constitutes the fullest review of corporate interactive means of communications in Europe.
A few words may be added about use of the Internet by refineries and petrochemical plants, and companies working in the sphere of petroleum product supplies. In the majority of cases, two patterns are applied - either the plant is given a page on the corporate website or it has its own solution.
If it has its own website, this is usually quite brief - information about the facility, its history, output and contact information. In addition, companies have started including on their sites price lists of their output, contracts and information about trades and tenders.
Examples are Saratovorgsintez (www.saratov.lukoil.com), the Moscow Refinery (www.mnpz.ru) and LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhsknefteprodukt (www.lukoil.vgg.ru).
The Russian oil and gas industry may today be classed as the leader in terms of Internet use. Moreover, it should be noted that trading rather than provision of information has recently become the main line of development. In spite of the fact that the majority of oil and gas companies today use precisely the presentation pattern, they are making increasing use on their websites of services allowing above all the companies themselves to find partners and customers. Thus, further changes can be forecast in the work of the oil and gas companies on the Internet, not only for the purpose of presenting themselves on the worldwide web, but also of promoting their business.
