Gazprom held the 2011 Best Corrosion Prevention Expert vocational skills competition.

The prize-winners were as follows:

1st place – Alexey Sarychev (Gazprom transgaz Ukhta);

2nd place – Dmitry Karavashkin (Gazprom transgaz Saint Petersburg) and Vladimir Ivankov (Gazprom transgaz Tchaikovsky);

3rd place – Pavel Kakalin (Gazprom transgaz Moscow), Ildar Sadykov (Gazprom transgaz Ufa) and Ivan Bashmakov (Gazprom transgaz Nizhny Novgorod).

Background

The Gazprom Best Corrosion Prevention Expert skills competition has been held since 2009 once every two years.

In 2011 representatives from 26 subsidiaries of Gazprom Group took part in the skills competition. These companies had become the winners of the first stage of the competition provisionally held among the subsidiaries.

At the second (final) stage of the competition welders had to pass two exams:

• theory exam – knowledge of corrosion prevention basics;
• practice exam – evaluating quality of protection coating, managing electrochemical protection equipment and administering first aid.

The skills competition was held with the use of Gazprom VNIIGAZ experimental base comprising special stands for qualification upgrade, attestation of corrosion prevention experts, proof of the relevant technologies, testing of materials and equipment.