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Learn moreNaftaGaz Held a 2024 Professional Skills Contest

NaftaGaz held a traditional professional skills contest among drilling crews, Best in Profession. Every year this landmark event brings together the drilling crews to test their strengths and hone their skills. This year it was held in an experimental format. The participants of the industrial contest performed the competitive tasks remotely, i.e. each at their own well pads. Their theoretical knowledge was tested via the distance learning system. Crews recorded the performance of individual tasks of the practical part on video. Thus, the number of contest participants tripled.
Theoretical training of NaftaGaz employees was evaluated by a commission consisting of trainers of NaftaGaz-Razvitie Training Center. In the practical part, the contestants had to perform descent and recovery operations (DRO) and record them on video. The whole working process was accompanied by comments on their own actions.
For three hours, the jury scrutinized the contestants' video reports, 30 videos in total. The briefing led by the foreman, the work of the electrician, fitter and fulfillment of the technical task by the shift on the rotor site were assessed separately. The commission members actively discussed what was going on, namely compliance with process regulations, occupational safety requirements and coherence of participants’ action. They recorded comments and noted the correctness of the task fulfillment by a certain crew.
It was not easy to determine the winners among the best drilling crews. The competition jury decided to award prizes not only based on the results of the drilling crew performance evaluation, but also in the following working specialties:
• Best Rig Maintenance Electrician
• Best Rig Maintenance Mechanic
• Best Driller's Assistance
• Best Driller
Aleksey Biryukov (Crew No. 28, Zapolyarye project) was recognized as NaftaGaz's Best Foreman.
Drilling crew No. 25, Khantos project (foreman Viktor Koltuntsev), which scored the maximum number of points in two stages of the competition, was named the Best Drilling Crew. Drilling crew No. 10, foreman Ivan Kochetkov, Zapolyarye project, ranked second, 2 points behind. Crew No. 28, foreman Aleksey Biryukov, Zapolyarye project, rounded off the top three.
The contestants were awarded diplomas for participation, and the winners – honorary diplomas and valuable gifts.
NaftaGaz is one of the five largest independent drilling companies in Russia, operating at the sites of the country's leading oil and gas companies. Its core production base is located in Noyabrsk (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), where NaftaGaz-Razvitie has its own licensed training center, which provides advanced training for specialists and trains them from scratch to work in the fields. The headcount is about 2.5 thousand persons. In 2023 and 2024, it received the Best Employer among Drilling Companies award. Investments in specialists, training and development of competencies, corporate support, and ensuring industrial safety are the key priority of the company. NaftaGaz supports volunteer, scientific and research initiatives in the environmental area. One of them is the study of the red-listed Caspian seal. The Company participates in projects contributing to the preservation and promotion of national culture and history and is a trustee of the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Art. Traditionally, the Company provides assistance to people in need and supports educational and sports projects in the region where it operates.