Gazprom Neft Patents The First Russian Technology For Digital Monitoring of Winter Roads
Gazprom Neft has developed a digital video analytics system that online assesses the condition of winter roads – temporary roads made of snow and ice created at sub-zero temperatures to deliver goods to hard-to-reach areas. The technology has received a certificate from Rospatent and is being implemented at the company’s fields in Eastern and Western Siberia.
With the onset of cold weather, winter roads are one of the main routes of communication with remote deposits. Currently, the length of such seasonal roads within the Gazprom Neft perimeter exceeds 1,000 km. Digitalization of monitoring will increase the speed and quality of assessing the condition of winter roads, and will also ensure the safety of movement on snow and ice routes.
The patented Gazprom Neft system uses digital vision and machine learning technologies. Vehicles traveling on winter roads are equipped with video cameras and lidars for airborne laser scanning of road objects – road signs, beacons, markers – and road boundaries. Machine learning algorithms analyze the data and compare it with a digital model of the road. This allows you to automatically identify any deviations from the design – potholes, ruts, violations of the integrity of the road surface – and promptly take measures to eliminate them.
The digital system was successfully tested at Gazprom Neft fields in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug; in 2024 and 2025, the technology will be implemented at 5 company enterprises in Eastern and Western Siberia.
“Winter roads are the most important part of Gazprom Neft’s seasonal transport infrastructure. Every year, our enterprises use thousands of kilometers of snow and ice routes to deliver goods. Many of them cross frozen river beds and run through swamps, which places increased demands on monitoring the condition of roads. The digital monitoring system we created was the first Russian development that automates and improves the quality of the winter road assessment process. This effective tool will not only ensure traffic safety on the company’s sites, but also in the future may be in demand for monitoring the condition of public roads.” – Aidar Sarvarov, General Director of Gazpromneft-Razvitie.
“The introduction of road video analytics is an important step in improving the delivery of goods via winter roads to northern oil fields, which are located far from large cities. The innovative solution will increase the efficiency of operation of seasonal routes and minimize the risks that transport may encounter on snow and ice roads.” – Oleg Tretyak, Acting Director for Digital Transformation at Gazprom Neft.
