15-10-09 Gazprom Neft has been sending managers to study Dutch production and exploration technology used by Salym Petroleum Development, in which it recently became a part owner, a Salym spokeswoman said.
Salym is 50-50 owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Sibir Energy, of which Gazprom Neft owns a majority after a series of deals earlier this year.

Shell-operated Salym boasts the quickest well drilling in the Russian oil industry and an advanced system of remote control over production.
"We do business in a totally different way," said Salym spokeswoman Sabina Yagizarova. Gazprom Neft is "trying to understand how we do it as a Western company." Shell views such trips as "natural," Moscow spokeswoman Vera Surzhenko said.

Gazprom Neft could learn much from Shell's day-to-day operations to use at its future fields, said Artyom Konchin, an oil analyst at UniCredit Securities in Moscow.
"It's a well-oiled machine," he said, referring to Shell. Some of Gazprom Neft's green fields look much like Salym's, he said.

Salym CEO Simon Durkin, who took over in September, said that Sibir was a "stronger" partner now that Gazprom Neft is majority owner.
"I look for the good things, and that's what we are going to do in this partnership," he said.

Gazprom Neft said it directly held 54.7 % of Sibir.
Indirectly, Gazprom Neft controls 75 %, Sibir said. The Moscow city government holds 18 %.