Russia offers to assist Middle Eastern partners to restore oil refineries damaged in conflict - Industry and Trade Minister

MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The level of development in Russia's oil and gas machinery sector enables supplying equipment to friendly nations, with one example being Russia's offer to partners on the Arabian Peninsula to assist in restoring oil refineries that have been attacked, Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said during a plenary session of the 4th International Russian Engineer Congress.

"Global partnerships are currently being put to the test. When oil refineries were struck during the crisis in the Middle East, we offered our colleagues on the Arabian Peninsula assistance in restoring them," Alikhanov said.

"We have developed our expertise in oil and gas equipment sufficiently to offer an alternative to global licensors. We have even established our own system of industry standards, competing with those of the API [American Petroleum Institute], which are gradually gaining recognition among our Arab partners," Alikhanov added.

Alikhanov noted that Russia aims to achieve similar recognition for its standards in the areas of LNG equipment and offshore development.

"However, our engineers still need to integrate new equipment into complete technological chains for delivery under EPC contracts in these areas," he added.