Technological trends of the fuel and energy complex digitalization market

Main article: Trends in the IT market in Russia

2024: Technological trends in the digitalization of the fuel and energy complex

Overview of Technology Trends

Fuel and energy complex enterprises actively use Machine Learning to improve production efficiency. Companies are now especially interested in automating production and processing processes. With proper training, LLMs can solve a large number of industrial tasks. Cloud technologies are still in demand. Robotic systems and autonomous installations help reduce the risk of human error. Digitalization can reduce exploration and production costs by 10-15% and speed up the commissioning of facilities by 40%.

IIoT continues to develop, which allows us to widely update the fuel and energy complex infrastructure, touching on all stages. The increase in the number of devices and IIoT sensors for real-time data collection leads to the need for competent control and qualitative analysis. Big Data and AI come to the rescue to monitor, optimize processes and prevent technological failures. The introduction of digital platforms for aggregating large amounts of information contributes to improved production and environmental risk management. Experts call the development of platform solutions relevant.

Already most of the industrial companies in Russia use AI. It is being implemented both to support energy production processes and in further cycles: the production and distribution of energy from the power plant to the consumer, as well as to diagnose and predict load.

Among other topics, we can note the increased activity in the direction of data management, as well as in the construction of corporate data management systems completely on the Russian solution stack. In technological processes, requests for the creation of dynamic forecasting models and the introduction of software robots have become more frequent. There is an urgent need to create master systems for managing production data to solve the urgent problem of heterogeneity, inconsistency and reliability of data.

{{quote 'author=Doctor of Technical Sciences Igor Tresko, Innovation Director of Inviatech (resident of Skolkovo ), I-Teco Group of Companies | By the beginning of 2025, the following key trends will determine the situation in the Russian fuel and energy complex digitalization market: microservice architecture, the introduction of specialized operator tools and a focus on cross-platform solutions.}}

Promising technologies

Of the promising technologies in the field of digitalization of the fuel and energy complex, experts call IIoT. There is a demand for BPMS systems for automation of electricity accounting, work with customers, which is relevant for billing in the electric power industry and housing and communal services.

In capital construction, information modeling and laser scanning are used everywhere. Digital twins allow you to simulate the work of complex objects, reducing risks and saving significant funds.

Solutions and practices of effective management of corporate architecture, project portfolios and initiatives can become a significant factor in increasing the efficiency of digitalization.

Blockchain systems strengthen confidence in the supply chain and make interaction with counterparties more transparent. The introduction of predictive analytics saves up to 15-20% of operating costs.

In thermal power plants, AI technologies help optimize the control of the fuel combustion process. By mid-2024, more than 40% of energy companies in Russia used AI, and more than 30% intended to switch to implementation in the near future.

Among the latest trends are the development of quantum computing, the use of AI to control complex technological processes.

Role of AI

Today, the fuel and energy complex is one of the leaders among the industries in the use of artificial intelligence technologies. In 2025, more than 40% of the industry's businesses use AI. At the end of the past year, 50% of organizations noted a significant economic effect from use (in 2023 there were 20%). Among the most popular technologies: decision support systems, computer vision, promising AI methods (PMII). AI technologies are often used to monitor, maintain and renovate enterprise assets.

AI in the fuel and energy complex allows businesses to automate processes, improve product quality, increase labor productivity, reduce costs and reduce production costs, improve decision-making processes, optimize resources for routine operations, minimize errors, excluding the human factor. With the help of AI, you can diagnose equipment, including using autonomous control systems, reduce downtime, calculate operating modes at production processes, energy consumption, reduce energy costs by 10-15%, quickly process incoming data, improve the quality of forecasting energy demand, monitor safety and prevent accidents. In the gas industry, AI predicts corrosion of pipelines based on data on the temperature, pressure and chemical composition of the gas.

AI helps to predict the production of electricity at solar and wind stations taking into account weather conditions, to improve the quality of research on the structure, structure and composition of rocks. Seismic surveys can be performed using digital twins that include analytics and automated recommendation modules. Using AI, you can more efficiently allocate resources and plan the timing of topogeodetic, drilling and blasting and registration operations. AI analytics modules can automatically track and control the quality of work. Generative models help to form parameters for the production of bitumen and rewrite recipes to obtain material with declared properties, record meetings, and reconcile design documentation. In 2025, the further development of AI technologies in the field of cognitive digital twins is expected, capable not only to predict malfunctions, but also to offer optimal solutions for their elimination in real time.

{{quote 'author=Maxim Melsitov, Development Director for Development and Implementation of Jet Infosystems Software | Last year, we completed a project in the CHPP workshop using machine learning, thanks to which we optimized the operation of feed pumps. Thanks to this service alone, the company saves almost 20 million rubles. annually. And dozens of such solutions in total help save even more impressive amounts.}}

{{quote 'author = Marat Nemeshev, Director of the Digital Solutions Department of LANIT-TERKOM (part of the LANIT group) | If we talk about the prospects for using AI in the fuel and energy complex, then, in my opinion, the future of the industry lies with omnichannel AI models that allow you to collect data from different sources and make decisions based on general information.}}

To date, there is a significant gap between the theoretical capabilities of AI and its practical application in the fuel and energy complex. The main challenges include the need to develop and implement specialized algorithms, integrate AI solutions with existing systems, and ensure data security and privacy.

While active import substitution continues, the role of AI remains secondary, because in historical systems AI was practically not used. However, in 2025-2026. the share of products with AI and projects for its implementation will multiply. For example, according to a study by the Higher School of Economics, by 2030 there will be about 30% of the cost of digitalization of the fuel and energy complex for the development and introduction of AI technologies.

In December 2024, an interesting article was published with the provocative title "Artificial intelligence will absorb the fuel, energy and industrial industries of Russia," which provided detailed statistics on AI development plans. From this publication, we learned that the share of organizations in the fuel and energy complex using AI has grown to 58% over the past year, "said Oleg Antipov, project manager of the IT integrator First Bit.

According to the expert, given the high expectations that the market imposes on the economic effect of the introduction of AI, further rapid growth in the direction can be expected, and at the moment the largest number of interesting cases on the use of AI is observed in production.

Marat Zaydullin, an industrial expert on fuel and energy complex at RAMAX Group, noted that by the beginning of 2025, almost all companies had already launched competence centers and project programs in the direction of AI. Many vendors already offer AI tools built into their solutions. Unlike machine learning, however, the industry as a whole is in the very early stages of learning how AI language technologies can be usefully integrated into existing business processes. The long list of potential ways to use AI and the resulting effects for 2024 has not changed, but how to correctly apply and embed AI tools is a laborious task for businesses, vendors and IT integrators.

One of the key uses for AI is provisioning. For cyber security example, AI can analyze historical data on cyber attacks, which helps predict potential vulnerabilities and build defense vectors. This is especially important for the fuel and energy complex, as attacks on energy facilities can lead to serious consequences, including power outages and environmental disasters. AI also helps protect sensitive data: design data, production data, commercial contracts and other critical assets, reducing the risk of data breaches, including for reasons of sabotage by employees. AI-based IBM risk analysis automates the incident response process, accelerating investigations by an average of 55%, according to the data. Many companies are actively using these technologies.

New items in the field of cybersecurity

At the end of 2024, the first test laboratory in Russia for PAC certification for CII based on Rosatom was launched, where testing of industrial servers, routers, switches and automated workplaces has already begun using special methods.

The fuel and energy complex, as a strategic industry, is the leader in demand for solutions for the protection of APCS, said Alexander Goltsov, General Director of AMT GROUP. According to the expert, CII security solutions can occupy more than 30% of the total information security solutions market, this is largely facilitated by CII legislation and the geopolitical situation as a whole.

New solutions include using AI to detect anomalies, blockchain technologies to increase data transparency and security, and tiered security systems that integrate different security approaches. Other means of protection include "data diodes." The application of these solutions reflects the commitment of the energy sector to the best global practices for building layered layered protection and brings them closer to implementing the ZeroTrust concept, which is de facto becoming the standard of security worldwide.

One of the options is physical localization of process control, taking into account the significance of the CII facility in the required network segment and ensuring the transit of critical data from the protected segment to ERP, MES systems, situational and analytical centers, Historian, and external consumers. And here it is very important to constantly expand the list of supported protocols, primarily industrial, widely used in technological networks, to actively test the compatibility of products for secure data transfer with domestic manufacturers of EPI and software products for automation of production, operational dispatch control systems, IIoT platforms.

According to Alexander Evteev, director of the department, in information security SIGMAS recent years there has been an increase in the number of Russian information security solutions replacing foreign analogues. For example, in 2024, several new domestic protections of the NGFW (Next Generation) class appeared on the market Firewall - new generation firewalls. These high-maturity decisions were very welcome. They are integrated with AI and machine learning to analyze traffic, simplify administration, which reduces the risk of errors and increases the chances of detecting anomalies in real time. NGFW also supports closer integration with cloud platforms, which allows you to protect data and applications hosted in the cloud at a level comparable to local networks.

{{quote 'author=Alexander Evteev, Director of the Information Security Department of SIGMA | Domestic solutions are developing, we see an increase in their operational characteristics and the addition of new functions. The second breath was received by data-diode solutions that allow data transfer from critical information infrastructure segments to upper-level information systems, while providing the maximum level of network security. Such solutions are increasingly used to solve digitalization problems.}}

Aleksei Kolodka, manager of information security practice, RAMAX Group noted that the modern approach to protecting critical infrastructure increasingly includes the use of deception technology, which includes honeypot systems. These solutions are advanced simulation environments that can not only detect the preparation of attacks, but also provide valuable information about the tactics, techniques and methods of attackers. Thanks to machine learning predictive analysis algorithms, such systems can generate reliable forecasts of probable threats. Given the specifics of the Russian market and the conservatism of many players in the fuel and energy segment, this area has not yet become widespread. Despite this, world experience demonstrates the high efficiency of such solutions as part of a deep protection strategy. Simulation defense systems can become an integral part of complex solutions to protect the critical infrastructure of the future in Russia, providing a transition from a reactive approach to a proactive model. cyber security

Microsoft vs domestic OS

So far, the situation with dependence on Microsoft products is not the best. Many critical processes in enterprises are tied to Microsoft Excel. Despite significant progress in the Servers OS class, the workplace continues to be dominated by Windows. The main problem is related to application software, which must be developed from scratch for domestic OS.

{{quote 'author = Sergey Karpunichev, Deputy General Director of KORUS Consulting Group | This situation is primarily related to the complexity of integrating Russian operating systems with critical systems of foreign vendors, which partially continue to be used by the company. Relatively speaking, the same ERP ERP system can work with built-in MS Excel objects, but is not able to recognize embedded objects from the standard office suite of domestic OS.}}

As Anton Goloshchapov, head of corporate solutions at Jet Infosystems, said, Microsoft solutions retain a strong position in the corporate infrastructure, especially in terms of Windows, Active Directory and SCCM. A complete rejection of these solutions is possible, but extremely difficult due to deep integration with other services and information systems. Moreover, the rejection of Microsoft AD entails the replacement of the company's certification centers, the transition of user workstations to Linux, the replacement of the usual office packages and mail clients.

Not many companies decide on such global changes in infrastructure and choose a hybrid approach. It assumes the preservation of some services on Microsoft solutions when parallel implementation of domestic analogues. At the same time, migration will affect those services whose replacement is most painless for the company. This approach complicates administration. There are several domain controllers in the perimeter of the company, both on Linux and Windows, which adds problems to administrators.

In addition to server and client operating systems, vendors of Astra Group, RED SOFT have solutions for managing domains and directories, which simplifies migration to them.

International Technology Cooperation

The international technology partnership plays an important role in the successful digital transformation of the fuel and energy complex, ensuring the exchange of expertise and advanced technologies, which contributes to the prompt adaptation of companies to foreign economic restrictions.

Experts note an important trend in the development of exports of Russian IT solutions to friendly countries, which expands sales markets and allows us to form technological standards at the international level. For example, Rosatom is engaged in the export of Russian software as part of complex energy projects.

Of great importance is the partnership with the PRC, where the model of selective localization of technologies is being implemented. Here, the main efforts are focused on the adaptation of solutions of the APCS level. As part of ensuring the security of CII, there is a tendency to deeply localize the decisions of international partners, including the transfer of technologies and the creation of local competencies.

Role of technology partnerships

From the point of view of technological partnerships, a productive situation is now developing for both fuel and energy companies and for Russian vendors. Successful projects are supported by a network of technology partners from both solution providers and industrial customers.

Vendor collaborations can become one of the decisive factors on the way to the completion of import substitution. IT companies combine technology, human resources, and financial resources to accelerate the creation and improvement of solutions that meet customer and market needs.

There are a number of areas, for example, specialized engineering software, the development of which will radically benefit from the expansion of mechanisms and precedents of technological partnerships that consolidate demand and guarantee focused task setting and demand guarantees to developer consortia.

The construction and formation of an ecosystem of solutions is an important trend that allows you to overcome the emerging technological gap in various segments of IT and information security to form stable and proven typical architectures. Partnerships contribute to the creation of integrated and ecosystem technical solutions, as well as their faster, safer and effective implementation.

Many captive IT companies of oil and gas enterprises today are trying to become vendors and sell other players the IT products that they originally developed for themselves. These solutions are mature enough to close the specific industry tasks of a particular enterprise, but not yet unified enough to become a full-fledged boxed product that other players could use just as effectively. And within the framework of technological partnerships, some fuel and energy enterprises are starting to cooperate with IT companies so that specialists can help refine the product and bring it to the foreign market already as a unified solution for the industry.

Fuel and Energy Complex companies themselves began to help large Russian vendors refine their solutions (especially for manufacturers of critical, high-load systems), taking into account industry specifics and needs. There are already cases when oil and gas companies "let" vendors into their sites so that they can better understand production and business processes, assess what additional functions need to be added to the solution, and draw up a roadmap for product development.

According to Maxim Berezin, Business Development Director of Orion soft, thanks to technological partnerships, more and more PAKs registered in the register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade are becoming available to the PAC. They are delivered out of the box and, due to this, significantly simplify the process of modernizing the IT infrastructure in the regional divisions of companies in the fuel and energy sector. A customer who needs automation and analytics on a remote site can install a pre-assembled PAC in a remote data center, get a ready-made running infrastructure, and not spend resources on a separate team of implementation specialists.

Data Management Systems

Data management systems have evolved to create scalable digital platforms that integrate heterogeneous data sources and analytical tools.

Integration buses provide a unified information environment, allowing all IT systems of companies to interact and provide access to information in real time, excluding data duplication. Synchronization of key business processes is achieved by combining different parts into a single centralized system.

Fuel and Energy Complex companies are just beginning to feel the need for end-to-end integrated data management processes. The accumulated volume of disparate storage, integrations and upper-level analytical solutions already requires a conscious approach to building end-to-end processes and corporate data management tools. One of the key drivers in this direction was a long cycle of creating new systems with analytics, machine learning and AI functions that require the integration of operational and reliable data from several sources.

Progress in the development of the PostgreSQL and 1C bundle is noticeable - there are already tools on the market that optimize the configuration of these systems for each other. If you add Linux-based OS to this bundle, you get a fault-tolerant independent system.

The fuel and energy complex is one of the main providers of incentives for the development of Big Data. Working with this class of technology enables businesses to make better predictions, streamline processes, and respond faster to change.

According to Vyacheslav Voeikov, Deputy Director of the Department for Corporate Work of ASCON, interest in engineering data management systems is growing in the customer's services, which are responsible for the implementation of reconstruction projects and new construction in holdings and individual enterprises of the fuel and energy complex. The interest is due to the desire to increase the likelihood of large projects in the planned time and budgets. Thanks to the implementation of such systems, a single information space is formed for all participants in capital construction projects.

The volume of data is growing exponentially, which is the reason for the trend towards optimizing the cost of data storage, and Lake house, DataOps and Infrastructure as a code may become a separate trend in 2025. In the future, the development of data management systems and digital services will lead to an exponential increase in digitalization of the entire sector.

Cloud Services, Virtualization, IIoT

The cloud technology market has been actively developing for several years, and now the key trends are the growth of hybrid and multi-cloud solutions, increased security and fault tolerance, as well as the development of domestic cloud platforms. A partial transition to cloud storage and computing reduces the cost of operating and supporting your IT infrastructure while reducing risk and loss.

Despite the fact that the fuel and energy complex practically does not use the public cloud infrastructure, there is a gradual increase in attention to building a private cloud. Major industry players either build and develop their own PaaS platforms or launch partnerships with IT companies offering their own On-Anticipate cloud platforms. At the same time, in addition to technical issues, enterprises also have to undergo a certain restructuring of internal IT and investment processes so that all new projects and systems are implemented already within the framework of cloud platforms.

According to Timur Rakhimov, head of the department for work with fuel and energy complex enterprises of SATEL, cloud technologies and IIoT allow implementing unique technological solutions. For example, "smart" deposits, the principle of which is to combine technologies for measuring control and control in real time. The management of production assets is also transformed using various sensors, RFID tags, thereby reducing the number of equipment failures and operating costs at all stages of production.

{{quote 'author = Maxim Berezin, Business Development Director Orion soft | In terms of the development of the IT infrastructure, we see the trend of the Enterprise business to move from standard virtualization to building private clouds with the implementation of Cloud Management Platform solutions. They allow you to manage both Russian and foreign virtual environments, provide transparent access management, provide tools for information security, accounting for the consumption of computing resources. Many large customers in the infrastructure have "adjacent" virtualization platforms of Russian and foreign vendors, and the private cloud is a suitable tool for smooth migration to the domestic one, for gradual transfer of loads from one solution to another through the user portal.}}

Another trend is the addition of container virtualization to the server. The ability to manage virtual machine clusters, networks, storage, and Kubernetes single-window clusters attracts customers with convenience and the ability to optimize labor.

UAV in the fuel and energy complex

A variety of unmanned vehicles are already actively used to monitor a number of fuel and energy complex facilities, despite a number of legislative restrictions, solving the tasks of remote external inspection to assess the state of infrastructure and timely correct scheduled repairs of power plants, transmission lines and other critical facilities. Currently, a number of devices designed for remote repair of fuel and energy complex facilities are being tested.

In the past few years, the technologies themselves in the field of UAVs have been rapidly developing, which cannot go unnoticed by large businesses, which are always aimed at optimization. Alternative forms of self-contained and remotely controlled devices are being actively implemented for the study of internal systems and hazardous areas.

2023

Digitalization of the fuel and energy complex: trends, prospects, the largest IT suppliers. TAdviser 2023 review

2021 - 2022

Smart devices for monitoring equipment and accounting resources, digital twins, solutions using machine learning both artificial intelligence, computer vision systems and platforms Internet of things, as well as low-code tools are the technological trends that are most often mentioned by participants in the digitalization market. ENERGY INDUSTRY Let's take a closer look at these and other trends.

Smart monitoring

One of the main trends in digitalization in the fuel and energy complex of Russia for the coming years is the equipping of all segments of the power with smart devices for monitoring the condition of equipment, accounting for the supplied resource and controlling payments for electricity.

Soon, the sensors will not only collect equipment performance indicators or the number of kilowatts consumed by consumers, but digitize, analyze data and offer an algorithm for solving emergency situations or optimizing current processes, "explains Timur Rakhimov, head of TEK enterprises at Satel.

Digital twins

Large companies are embarking on flexible optimization of operations, technological processes, production infrastructure based on their reflection and modeling "in numbers." To do this, all assets must be seen in the virtual world "in depth" and "in width," explains Dmitry Sokolov, an expert at the Digital Production department of Siemens in Russia.

Deep vision means that the digital twin must be exhaustive both in various disciplines (physics, geometry, electrical, hydraulics, software control, etc.), and in the accuracy of models, sufficient to solve optimization and prediction problems.

For example, if you are modeling a turbine or compressor, then you need to know and track all the dependencies of the operating parameters of the unit from each other in order to detect and predict even minor deviations in time. In addition, you will need a reliable mathematical or hybrid model of the operation of the reference unit in order to compare it with a real object and look for the optimum in the multidimensional space of its control levers, "says Dmitry Sokolov.

A "wide" vision means covering the entire production infrastructure with a single, holistic digital twin, on the basis of which you can optimize end-to-end processes from raw materials to the final product, and thereby achieve new levels of efficiency.

For example, for LNG production, such a digital model should cover the operation of both wells and the gas collection network (GSS), and the gas purification and liquefaction plants themselves, including storage and shipment of products, explains the Siemens expert.

Computer vision

As a rule, customers are looking for a boxed product to solve a specific problem. When there are 3-4 such projects, the configuration is still manageable, but when we talk about large production holdings, this approach generates a zoo of solutions, which ultimately rests on the controllability of this configuration and the mass further training of models.

SAS is approached, firstly, in search of some kind of "umbrella" system that will cover boxed products and carry out their "management," and, secondly, we receive requests from companies that are at the beginning of the journey and want to organize the process correctly. I.e. when the cameras will serve as a purely data source, and all models will be created, worked out and completed on this stream, "says Ivan Shilov, an expert on working with industrial companies, SAS Russia/CIS.

Other trends

Common technotrends for all fuel and energy sectors

Among other technotrends relevant for fuel and energy enterprises, experts mention the transition to low-code platform solutions in terms of machine learning and artificial intelligence, initiatives in the field of the Internet of things, continuous monitoring of capital construction processes and increased interest in operational risks.

Mature companies, in terms of solving analytical problems, began to understand the limitations of using only open source architecture. Ivan Shilov, an expert on working with industrial companies, SAS Russia/CIS, explains that SAS has begun to receive requests for solutions, where, on the one hand, the life cycle of analytics is covered, ranging from DataOps to ModelOps, and on the other hand, Low-code tools are used, there is a connection to analytical projects of civilian data Scientists.

As for operational risks, there is a connection with incidents that occurred in Norilsk Nickel. Companies have taken care of creating a more flexible risk management system to reduce losses and ensure the future.

SAS historically has a strong position in this area, so fuel and energy complex companies contact us directly, adds Ivan Shilov.

Technological trends in the digitalization of the fuel industry

In the fuel industry, digitalization is aimed at maintaining the level of resource extraction, increasing margins and reducing processing costs. In this segment, systems for supporting expert solutions, software complexes with ZD visualization, monitoring and management systems energy equipment, digital twins, industrial safety systems are in demand.

Mobile applications for bypassing and inspecting equipment are also in demand, which allow you to remotely record the readings and condition of equipment, transmit data online, "adds Pavel Sergienko, General Director of Infopro Group of Companies.

Technological trends in the digitalization of the electric power industry

In the electric power industry, digital transformation is aimed at minimizing specific fuel consumption, increasing the level of automation of production, increasing the efficiency of work at OREM, increasing the reliability of power supply, as well as developing new services for interaction with consumers.

Here projects are being implemented to implement MES systems, billing solutions, monitoring and assessment systems for the state of energy equipment with predictive analysis, platforms are being created for the collection, processing and use of big data, demand management mechanisms are being tested, tasks are being solved to predict the generation and consumption of electricity, systems for strategic and investment planning are being implemented.

Most of the digital solutions implemented are based on Internet of Things technology (sensors, smart meters, etc.) and advanced analytics (predictive analytics, remote monitoring and control system, etc.). Cross-technological solutions are in demand: modeling and forecasting of energy object parameters using a digital model (digital twin), a distributed system of energy storage, demand and load management, - says Pavel Sergienko.

Dmitry Kichko, General Director of Edit Pro Group of Companies, notes that in addition to process control systems, forecasting solutions and efficient energy consumption, electric power enterprises are introducing products to automate interaction with contractors and customers. Quite actively, companies are engaged in the creation and development of personal accounts and mobile applications of their portals, omnichannel contact centers, voice chat bots, RPA and additional services for customers.

For example, CRM solutions in the power help not only to track how a subscriber pays bills, but also to use the data received to maximize the personalization of services: offers of more flexible tariffs or additional services.

This, of course, is a radically new level of communication and customer loyalty management. We really want to develop this direction in the energy sector for customers of the B2C segment, "says Kirill Shchepetov, director of the 1C solutions department at SIGMA.

One of the key IT trends for Russian power is mobile solutions. Demand for them is steadily growing, as they allow solving a wide range of business problems: from labor protection to reducing production costs and risks of equipment failures.

Through mobile devices, personnel can receive tasks, undergo briefings, confirm the performance of work, and information about inspections of equipment is instantly transferred to the main base, where dispatchers or engineering personnel can work with them. According to the experience of implementing SIGMA solutions on the SIGMA: Alcor platform, this allows you to reduce data processing costs by an average of 30%, "said Evgeny Odintsov, Executive Director of SIGMA.

In the energy segment, the strategic objective is comprehensive billing automation aimed at improving the speed and accuracy of calculations, improving the quality of interaction with consumers of all categories, reducing receivables and improving the accuracy of planning electricity demand.

{{quote | This problem is solved by the Neva billing digitalization platform - SIGMA's own development, already used in a number of energy sales companies in Russia, says Evgeny Odintsov.

In recent years, the industry has also been actively developing technologies for artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning. As for import substitution, it can be called the basic trend, which today determines the IT development strategy of almost every enterprise in the industry.

Significant efforts are needed here in the area of ​ ​ the hardware base of all levels: from high-performance servers to consumer metering devices. SIGMA is ready to participate in the development of such equipment together with Russian manufacturers, we are open for negotiations and are ready to provide our software for such projects, adds Odintsov.

Information security solutions remain extremely relevant for electric power companies, as these enterprises remain one of the main targets of hackers.

Also, the industry is gradually modernizing the IT infrastructure and specialized solutions, including automation systems for working with applications for technological connection to electric networks, creating technical assignments for contractors, long-term production planning, as well as providing dispatch control over electric networks, says Dmitry Kichko.

As for large generating companies, they have flexible management of generating capacities on the agenda to reduce fuel costs or turbine resources. Dmitry Sokolov, an expert at the Digital Production Department of Siemens in Russia, says that such enterprises need to effectively respond to changes in energy demand and quickly adapt to the requests of the System Operator of the Unified Energy System. To do this, you need to collect historical data, build predictive models of equipment operation for the entire distributed generation infrastructure. This will make it possible to more evenly distribute the load and more accurately plan the inclusion of units, which leads to an increase in efficiency, an increase in resource and an increase in economic efficiency. Therefore, companies are moving from disparate control, data collection and dispatching systems to centralized systems that allow you to see a holistic "picture."

2020

The fuel and energy complex is one of the most dynamically developing sectors of the Russian economy, the role of information technology in which is very high. Over the past few years, amid a steady decline in revenues from the sale of hydrocarbons, companies in the real sector of the economy, including the fuel and energy complex, are increasingly understanding that it is possible to increase profits and minimize costs using modern technologies. They can improve production efficiency and safety, improve working conditions, optimize headcount, reduce downtime and reduce accidents. Let's consider the main trends in the use of IT in the fuel and energy complex, which are most often discussed by market experts.

Technological adaptation of companies to new realities

Projects related to the adaptation of business to new economic realities and new ways of management remained in demand in 2020.

The current year has shown a high need for online migration of many client and internal services not only in retail and e-commerce, but also in many production sectors of the economy, including fuel and energy complex enterprises. The load has increased not only on internal corporate portals, transactional systems, but also on external sites and mobile applications, the availability of which directly affects the client experience and revenues of companies, - said Alexander Savchenko, Sales Director of Ramax Group, in a conversation with TAdviser.

Due to the massive transition to "remote work" in the industry, there was a boom in demand for systems for remote execution of business processes, including production ones.

The events of this year, affecting all industries without exception, forced energy enterprises to turn to virtual desktop technology (VDI). Many of them first encountered this class of solutions, which significantly complicated the implementation and created an additional burden on the IT infrastructure, - said Maxim Zubritsky, head of the department for work with oil and gas companies of Jet Infosystems.

Collective work organization systems were also in demand.

Being in the context of restrictions on face-to-face meetings, video conferencing on various platforms has firmly entered business practice. At the same time, now this format of interaction can be called basic, and not alternative, as it was before. By the way, in recent years, in many large companies in the industry with remote production sites, video conferencing has already been quite effectively used and little has changed for them in this regard, "Alexander Savchenko told TAdviser.

Due to the violation of hardware supply chains and restrictions on the movement of specialists to configure it, cloud technologies showed serious growth.

This is traditionally a difficult topic in the oil and gas sector for all market participants, but 2020 has shown that sometimes the use of advanced technologies is uncontested, "Alexander Savchenko told TAdviser.

According to Alexei Borisov, director of industry solutions at CROC in the power, integration developments were in demand, allowing companies to move to a single information space.

Coronavirus-related restrictions have certainly accelerated the use of unified data platforms. In our case - with engineering data on capital construction projects. The unified information environment of engineering data allowed many of our customers to maintain stability in the conditions of remote work, to withstand the terms of work on construction projects. 2020 showed that "paper" design and "paper" construction, when the main thing is a paper document, lose viability in the current conditions, - said TAdviser Sergei Ponomarev, technical director of the integrator department of ASCON.

Accelerating digital transformation

In 2020, the fuel and energy complex companies, like any other industry, faced an acute issue of accelerating digital transformation. The trend was the use of open-source technologies to develop platforms in digital transformation centers created at industry enterprises. Due to a significant reduction in the timing of a number of projects, the companies used flexible agile development technologies.

There is no longer any time or opportunity for long pilot projects, long-term testing. Everything needs to be done as quickly and cheaper as possible, - said Ivan Khovavko, head of the fuel and energy complex digitalization division of Force - Development Center (Force Group), in a conversation with TAdviser.

Competent use of modern technologies

The introduction of information technologies in the fuel and energy complex is quite consistent, although some time ago there was an explosive interest in new "digital technologies."

Pilot projects were randomly launched: either to robotize business processes (RPA), then "digital deposits," then "digital twin," then BigData with predictive analytics, etc. However, only a few of these projects turned into full-fledged, commercializable initiatives. At the moment, the industry's interest in innovation has somewhat streamlined: the market has an understanding of where to start and what to do, "says Valentina Kulagina, head of the ICL Services product office.

An important role in such progress, in her opinion, was played by competent consultants of system integrators and consulting agencies, who, on the one hand, understood digital technologies, on the other, knew the possibilities of their application and integration into production processes to achieve the expected effect for business. The head of the IoT group of Softline Valery Milykh connects this progress with "the complexity of the tasks facing the fuel and energy complex enterprises."

According to Oksana Vysochanskaya, director of key clients at Hi-Tech, in recent years, industry companies "have come to understand that the competent use of modern solutions brings tangible profits, reduces costs, and optimizes interaction."

The very attitude towards digitalization has also changed. Companies realized that technology is just a tool and to achieve effect, it is necessary to correctly integrate this tool into existing processes and regulations, create new competencies to evolve and improve. And this is the most difficult thing. Companies that have realized this receive good business effects, develop further and serve as an example for the entire market, the company notes. ITPS

Digital technologies provide precision, transparency, and enterprise adaptability to changing market conditions. The decisive factor of success is the speed of making correct management decisions that cannot be built without a clear idea of ​ ​ the current state of production, without monitoring and managing real-time data, add to ITPS.

Increase in demand for Russian developments

The distinct trend observed in the industry is import substitution. By introducing domestic developments, fuel and energy complex enterprises, on the one hand, stimulate the development of information technologies in Russia, and, on the other, master new technologies.

The global trend for the entire industry is import substitution, which allows you to protect enterprises from changes in the global market situation, stimulates IT to develop, and energy enterprises to master new technologies. Taking into account these priorities, we are developing our own developments. 5 out of 20 industry solutions for power created in SIGMA are already included in the Register of Russian software, another 3 are in the process of registration. For example, our SIGMA system is being implemented in Inter RAO - Electric Generation JSC: Alcor, registered in the Register, to automate the process of bypassing and inspecting equipment. It allows you to reduce the time for identifying and troubleshooting problems on equipment, rationally plan the load of specialists, and on the basis of the data received - the purchase of spare parts and materials, - says Sergey Kolodey, general director of Sigma.

As part of import substitution, interest in Russian solutions is growing, adds Igor Okhrimenko, director of business development at the fuel and energy complex Technoserv Consulting"." According to him, many large companies of the fuel and energy complex are more actively looking and testing Russian solutions, looking for analogues for introduced foreign products, and new industrial platforms are also emerging.

Many organizations pay special attention to the development of their solutions in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Nevertheless, there remains a stable interest in already known foreign solutions, - he explains.

According to specialized experts, foreign IT solutions in the industry still occupy a dominant share, but the share of domestic products is gradually growing.

For example, in the field of modeling field development, processing seismic data, solving geophysical problems, monitoring, etc. There is a noticeable interest in analytics and big data systems, robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles, software robots, artificial intelligence, 3D modeling, "said Oksana Vysochanskaya.

It should be noted that some of the domestic software products are even becoming a priority for companies in the fuel and energy market, "added Igor Parfenov, director of the department for work with enterprises of the fuel and energy complex" Satel. "

Big Data Intelligence

Among the fuel and energy complex companies, there is a request to implement systems for mining large amounts of data.

Information on the quality and quantity of raw materials, the pace and volume of production - all of this can be benefited by algorithms. For example, predictive analytics obtained using machine learning allows you to predict changes in the operation of equipment, conduct diagnostics on time - this helps to extend the service life of machines, - notes Maxim Zubritsky.

In 2020, against the background of pandemic and global processes, in particular, a decrease in production volumes under the OPEC + deal, companies needed to optimize production, says Dmitry Seregin, director of the Power department at Technoserv. To optimize production processes, enterprises also used predictive analytics systems and resorted to process mining.

At the same time, the most common introduction of predictive analytics in the field of equipment operation and repair, but so far it has been with varying success.

There are new requirements for the automation of equipment maintenance and repair management processes, which ensure complete automatic monitoring of the state of equipment and the transition from regulatory repairs to predictive repairs based on the state of equipment, which, in turn, leads to an increasing demand for IoT technologies and virtual modeling, - says Arkady Karev, vice president of the Borlas group.

In addition, solutions based on BigData and Machine Learning technologies can be aimed at monetizing technological data on the operation of equipment for generating and power grid companies. Sales companies can monetize customer data, consumption profiles, commercial loss detection and smart accounts receivable management, adds CROC 's Director of Industry Solutions at power Aleksei Borisov.

Mobile job growth

Experts notice an increase in the number of projects related to the creation of various mobile applications for fuel and energy enterprises.

This is primarily software for automating the activities of mobile teams and various inspectors, as well as means of providing convenient additional services for interacting with subscribers of energy sales companies. In general, mobile application technologies will continue to be in demand - due to the fact that territorial distribution is a common business characteristic for fuel and energy complex enterprises, explains TAdviser Arkady Karev.

Mikhail Yusupov, project manager at Reksoft, adds that tablets and smartphones are used in the work of oil depot employees, fuel truck drivers, full-time gas station employees and other employees, with the help of which they report on the current results of work.

Increased focus on safety

Traditionally, the focus is on technological security issues, as a result - enterprises are actively interested in products in the field of information security.

Fuel and energy enterprises are often one of the main targets for terrorist hacker attacks, which can lead to failures in technological processes or cause a man-made catastrophe. Therefore, issues of building integrated information security systems and, especially, CII protection are being paid great attention today. The most important principle that allows building a controlled but attack-preventing architecture is the principle of segmentation of networks using unidirectional data gateways (Diode class devices) on the perimeter of a critical infrastructure, "AMT Group technical director Vladimir Leonov told TAdviser.

Sergei Ponomarev believes that the increased requirements for ensuring the security of storage and access to data entail the refusal to use public cloud solutions.

The ability to host a database on an enterprise server is one of the main criteria for choosing IT solutions, he adds.

Other trends

Other trends include an increase in demand for industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices and systems for interacting and managing them. Edge Computing is in tandem with them.

They will compete with cloud: depending on the goals and budgets, enterprises will choose one type or another. And the widespread adoption of 5G networks, which will inevitably happen in the future, will make Edge even more valuable to industry through high API growth, which will expand programming capabilities and help eliminate infrastructure bottlenecks. All these technologies are indispensable in the creation of digital deposits, the projects of which, albeit postponed at the moment, are in the plans of most enterprises engaged in digitalization, - said Maxim Zubritsky.

Another trend is the "digital twins" of objects or processes. "Digital twins" of production processes are already appearing at some enterprises of the industry. The concept of "digital twin," as well as "edge computing," in particular, was introduced into systems for remote monitoring and automated control of production processes, which are linked together within the framework of dedicated technology networks (private networks).

Enterprises are steadily growing their interest in developing complex applications on microservices.

Microservice architecture makes it easier to combine ERP, APCS systems and other critical applications of enterprises without purchasing expensive software, "said Valentin Kulagin in a conversation with TAdviser.

In addition, TEK companies are striving to harmonize the software solutions that they use across platforms and development tools.

This is done in order to minimize dependence on third-party IT service providers in the future, while maintaining the ability to service the solution with its own departments, "the director of the company's development center Artezio (GC" ") explained to TAdviser.LANIT Dmitry Parshin

In addition to the general universal trends for all fuel and energy enterprises, specific trends in specific industries should also be mentioned. Thus, the key trends in energy sales are the introduction of "smart" metering devices and the associated increase in interest in solutions for collecting and operational analytics on consumption, technical condition and other parameters, says Sergey Kolodey. According to him, the active development of electronic document management, billing and CRM systems is also associated with this.

Arkady Karev, vice president of the Borlas group, also expects an increase in the number of projects in the field of Smart Grid and Smart Metering.

The upcoming demand for these projects is beyond doubt, since the electric power industry has adopted a law on the mandatory installation of automated commercial electricity metering systems (federal law of 27.12.2018 No. 522-FZ), within the framework of which enterprises must necessarily switch to smart meter technologies (Smart Metering and Smart Grid), - he says.

In addition, stability of work is very important in the power grid and generation sectors, so there is an active digitalization of equipment maintenance and repair, including monitoring the condition of equipment, the work of mobile teams, and the introduction of IoT to monitor the condition of equipment and transmission infrastructure, adds Sergey Kolodey.

Read also

• Digitalization of fuel and energy complex. TAdviser 2021 Review
• Information technologies in the fuel and energy complex. TAdviser 2020 Review
• Russian power Automation Market
• IT in power. TAdviser Overview