Rosneft Oil Company Partners with MDI Gurgaon and SPbU to Boost Workforce Skills in Oil-and-Gas Digitalisation

At the XXVIII St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) Rosneft Oil Company sealed a three-party human-capital pact with St Petersburg State University (SPbU) and India’s Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon. The document, bearing the signatures of Igor Sechin, the CEO of Rosneft Oil Company, SPbU Rector Nikolai Kropachev and MDI Director Professor Arvind Sakhai, sketches a multi-year roadmap that links the academic strengths of two countries to the talent demands of Russia’s largest publicly traded oil company.

Under the accord, SPbU’s Graduate School of Management and MDI will co-create executive and specialist programmes tailored to Rosneft’s priorities. Each course blends technical content — exploration, production, refining and other oil-and-gas technologies — with management blocks on logistics optimisation, operational efficiency, artificial intelligence and digital transformation. Real Rosneft case studies anchor classroom theory, ensuring participants acquire skills directly relevant to day-to-day operations.

A structured knowledge-exchange component reinforces the curriculum. Rosneft employees will make study trips to Indian energy sites to observe best practices in a fast-growing market, while lecturers from SPbU and MDI will swap research findings and teaching methods, so lessons learned in one institution feed quickly into the other. This constant two-way flow keeps academic material aligned with industry reality and helps Rosneft absorb proven ideas from abroad.

The new framework extends a partnership already well tested. Since 2008 SPbU has been Rosneft’s strategic academic ally; together they have run advanced training courses, upgraded university infrastructure and funded scholarships for outstanding students and faculty. More than 1,500 Rosneft specialists have taken SPbU programs over the past seventeen years, proof that sustained upskilling delivers concrete value.

MDI adds an international dimension. Founded in 1973 by the Industrial Finance Corporation of India, it became the nation’s first officially designated “Management Institute” and is consistently ranked among India’s top business schools. Its courses carry dual accreditations from AACSB (United States) and AMBA (United Kingdom) and are certified by the National Board of Accreditation, confirming they meet both global and domestic quality standards. This pedigree equips MDI to inject emerging-market perspectives and applied-research depth into the alliance.

Rosneft Oil Company regards people’s development as strategically vital, on par with field expansion or refinery upgrades. By fusing SPbU’s academic heritage with MDI’s global credentials, Rosneft aims to cultivate a workforce able to navigate digital transformation, supply-chain complexity and rapid technology cycles. For the universities, collaboration with a major industrial player provides live case material, fresh research angles and a clearer view of the competency’s employers demand — benefits that will sharpen their syllabi and broaden students’ horizons.

Implementation will roll out in phases. Mixed working groups will map Rosneft’s skill needs against existing courses, design new modules where gaps appear, set admissions criteria and define metrics for impact. Once the first cohort is enrolled, visits to Indian energy facilities will add an immediate practical layer to academic learning, while faculty exchanges will keep course content current.

Though framed as an education initiative, the alliance also echoes broader Russia–India cooperation in energy trade, equipment supplies and joint R&D. By knitting together managers, engineers and scholars, the program should deepen mutual understanding of regulation, investment priorities and innovation pathways. In the long run Rosneft gains a steady pipeline of well-trained professionals; SPbU and MDI extend their global reach and industry relevance; and the wider sector benefits from leaders able to balance operational excellence with digital integration.

By formalizing the partnership at SPIEF — a forum built on cross-border dialogue — the organizations affirm their shared conviction that sustained investment in human capital is indispensable to future success and innovation in the international oil-and-gas industry, and that blended academic–corporate platforms are the most effective way to deliver it.