Development of the Arctic and the continental shelf is one of the key strategic goals of Russia.
From the 8th to 11th of October OMR 2024, the 6th International Forum for shipbuilding and equipment and technologies for development of the Arctic and continental shelf, was held in St. Petersburg.

The Forum was dedicated to the memory of Alexey KONTOROVICH, an academician, who had been the head of program committees of OMR and RAO/CIS Offshore Forums for development of oil and gas resources of the Arctic shelf for more than 20 years and had made a significant contribution to development of oil and gas complexes of the West and East Siberia, Yakutia and the whole Arctic region of Russia.

In Russia OMR is the only hybrid business platform specially dedicated to discussion of such issues as development of offshore oil and gas resources in the Arctic seas, operation of offshore complexes in ice-bound conditions, hydrocarbons transportation, shipping traffic along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), navigation and communication in the northern water areas, naval medicine, industrial and ecological safety.
In 2024 OMR forum was held as part of the International St. Petersburg Gas Forum for the first time.

The Forum opening ceremony and the first plenary session took place in the Mariinsky Palace. The conference events were held in ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Center, where exhibition was also located.

THE PLENARY SESSION
Within the frame of the plenary session, priorities of Russia in the Arctic were discussed.
Kirill MOLODTSOV, the head of a project team of the Russian Gas Society on alternate gasification, was the moderator.
Among the participants of the plenary session were S. L. CHERNYSHEV, an Academician and the Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; I. A. ANANSKIKH, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on power industry, the Head of the Division on Legislative Regulation of the North Sea Route Development; S. V. SHIMANSKIY, the Deputy Head of the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency and the Head of the Oil and Gas Geology Department of the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency; L. V. EDER, the Deputy CEO of Gazprom VNIIGAZ; S. N. CHEMKO, a Project Manager of the Arctic Directorate of the state corporation “Rosatom”; V. S. USTINOV, an Assistant to the President of Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre for special projects, the Academic Head of Kurchatov Complex of Nuclear Transport Energy Technologies; P. M. ITKIN, the Vice Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg; V. I. KATENEV, the President of the Chamber of Commerce of St. Petersburg; G. G. SHIROKOV, the Chairman of Saint Petersburg Committee for Arctic Affairs.

More than 300 specialists, including business community representatives and heads of regional and federal government authorities for development of the Arctic region, took part in the plenary session.

THE CONFERENCE
More than 600 delegates — industry experts from 210 companies, including representatives of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, the Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency, the Ministry of Health of Russia, Russian Academy of Science, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft Shelf, United Shipbuilding Corporation, Sevmash Industrial Association, Baltic Shipyard, JSC “SSTC”, Rosneft Oil Company, Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering, Coral Central Design Bureau, Lazurit Central Design Bureau, Monolit Central Design Bureau, Arctic Northern Industrial Association, etc., took part in the Forum.
The 10th of October was declared to be the Day of Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre, and the key event of the day was “THE ARCTIC VECTOR OF RUSSIAN POWER INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT” lecture of Mikhail KOVALCHUK, the President of Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre.
As usually, a Youth session was held as a part of the conference. Participants of the session presented promising projects in the sphere of shipbuilding and took part in a foresight session “Promising Technologies of the Russian Continental Shelf Deposits Development. Future in the Eye of the Youth”.
For 4 days of OMR 2024 Forum more than 160 reports were delivered within the frame of 9 panel discussions and 8 thematic sessions.


THE EXHIBITION
The conference was illustrated by an exhibition, where technical solutions for fleet creation, promising technologies and equipment for shelf infrastructure arrangement, including ports construction and operation and Arctic transport system development, were presented.

Among the participants of the exhibition were more than 60 industry companies, including Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex, Far Eastern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center, Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre, Arkticmorneftegazrazvedka, Technopole Company, OMZ, Yuzhmorgeology, Ladoga Ship Production and Repair Company, Arctic Northern Industrial Association, Association of Oil and Gas Industry Suppliers “Sozvezdie”.

Regional expositions were presented by united stands of St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk and Leningrad Regions.
St. Petersburg exposition was one of the biggest at the exhibition (organized by St. Petersburg Committee for Arctic Affairs). It was supported by a diverse business program prepared both for the experts and the citizens.

On the collective exhibition of Leningrad Region (organized by the Industrial Development Centre of Leningrad Region) leading special companies of the region were presented and, as usually, a meeting of shipbuilding cluster of Leningrad Region was held.

For the first time after a long intermission, Chinese companies took part in OMR 2024 exhibition. They demonstrated innovative equipment and services in the sphere of shipbuilding and ship maintenance, drilling equipment and tools, materials for shelf development and hydrocarbons marine transportation, power engineering and electrotechnical equipment.

Visitors’ special attention was drawn to innovation exhibits in the sphere of engineering design of multipurpose vessels, equipment and materials for construction of offshore platforms and technological complexes for exploration and production of oil and gas on the shelf. Among the exhibits one could see a model of an ice-breaking tanker used for transportation of raw oil within the frame of Vostok Oil project of Rosneft Oil Company (Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex) and layouts of a complex with a remotely controlled autonomous underwater vessel designed for Gazprom (Malakhit Marine Engineering Bureau of Saint Petersburg).
Over 13,000 specialists from Russia and 54 foreign countries attended the Exhibition.

In 2024 OMR Forum was held by an order of Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
The General Partner of OMR 2024 is Gazprom.
The Partner of the Youth session is Gazprom Shelfproekt.
The Organizer is RESTEC Exhibition Company.