Russia invites Saudi Arabia to join development of standards for oil, gas equipment
YEKATERINBURG. July 7 (Interfax) - Russia wants Saudi companies to participate in developing standards for oil and gas equipment that are independent of the West, Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said at the Industrial Dialog: Russia - Saudi Arabia business forum held as part of the Innoprom-2025 exhibition.
"The Institute of Oil and Gas Technology Initiatives (INTI) that was created a few years ago is now working in close cooperation with foreign oil companies, and we would like to invite our Saudi partners to also join this work to develop and introduce independent standards in this area that are independent from the American Petroleum Institute," Alikhanov said.
He said he raised this issue at a meeting with Saudi Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar Alkhorayef held on the sidelines of Innoprom.
"Today we also discussed our successes in localizing and replacing imports in production of equipment for the oil and gas sector. Actually, we've been doing this work since 2014-2015. There are substantial results, both in terms of production and in terms of the development of internationally recognized standards in this area. We think this is extremely important," Alikhanov said.
"And Saudi Arabia, we believe, is also a natural partner here, a country that produces the most oil in the world. In our view, this is also a natural movement, specifically so-called downstream projects, complete technological independence. This is what we could offer, where we could implement joint projects," the Russian minister said.
The Russian side has already conducted a series of presentations of oil and gas equipment for Saudi partners, Alikhanov said. "We hope this work will continue. We have considerable experience with the Emirates and Bahrain, so given Saudi Arabia's oil production volumes - they're the world leaders after all - I believe our expertise in oil and gas equipment and standardization implemented through INTI will interest them. I'm confident this work will yield practical results," he said.
With the UAE, with which negotiations began previously, "several dozen standards have already been approved for application in the United Arab Emirates," he said. "We hope to have equally productive work with Saudi colleagues, with dozens of INTI standards becoming applicable in Saudi Arabia too," he said.
Russia is also prepared to offer Saudi companies its know-how in mineral resource exploration and production, he said.
"We have great potential for cooperating in the mining industry. We have mastered modern exploration technology, tools for processing big geological data, cartography, including the use of unmanned systems. We can also offer our Saudi partners equipment for mining and processing ores," Alikhanov said.
He also mentioned shipbuilding, metallurgy and a number of other sectors as potential areas for cooperation.
"Mutual trade increased by more than 60% and exceeded $3.8 billion last year. In the first quarter of this year, [the scale of international economic activity] increased even more. We have achieved a fourfold increase in trade turnover compared to the same period of the year before last. We need to maintain this dynamic through joint efforts, look for new points of growth for further technological partnership," Alikhanov said.
