The largest Central European oil and gas company supports an idea that cooperation in the science and technology is the key to prosperous life in the future.
On Wednesday, June 5, the zero day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Thomas Morris, Senior Vice President of OMV Russia Upstream GmbH, paid a visit to the Mining University. During his meeting with Vladimir Litvinenko, the Principal of the Mining University, the prospects for future participation of OMV in the university’s projects were discussed.
As Mr. Morris noted, "Thanks to Mr. Litvinenko, we had a wonderful tour around the university. He also spoke about some international programs that have been either implemented or are still in the process of implementing, including oil- and gas-related programs. There is a very strong understanding in the Mining University of how people from different countries should collaborate and work together. They have elaborated a solid strategy."
The University of Leoben is one of the partners of the Mining University. Its Principal Dr. Wilfried Eichlseder is also a member of the governing bodies of the International Competence Centre for Mining-Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO. Within this structure, the two institutions – both the Russian and Austrian – have been working on unification of educational standards, increasing academic mobility and promoting joint scientific research.
As per Thomas Morris, "We have been also working with the University of Leoben because we believe that integration of business and sciences is an essential part of the future. We also believe that cooperation in areas such as culture, education or technology in general leads to human progress. Finally, we believe that energy supply is an important prerequisite for successful life in the future. This is the reason why our company has been acting as a partner of Gazprom and – on a wider scale – of Russia for 51 years already."
One of the projects that has been brought into the focus is the establishment of the Russian-European Raw Materials Dialogue. It is expected that it could become a platform for discussing such matters as sustainable supply of energy resources to the EU countries, introduction of the best available technologies, high-level processing of hydrocarbons, creation of a favorable investment climate in the industry, as well as a few other issues.
According to Mr. Morris, "Innovative technology solutions can rarely be implemented by one person only. As a rule, interaction between the entities and numerous discussions are required. Therefore, cooperation at the company and state level is very important. We have to be engaged in a dialogue if we want to achieve the best result possible."
