Innovative entrepreneur Gennady “Gene” Moshkovich has established several companies that cater to various aspects of the oil industry, especially desulfurization: He currently is CEO of DS2Tech Inc., president of Moschanco Investment Group 2000, and managing director of 21st Century Technologies LLC.
“Moschanco Investment Group 2000 is an investment firm that focuses on developing energy infrastructure projects in Russia,” said Moshkovich. “The company is also involved in facilitating US investment and technology transfer to the Russian energy industry in Western Siberia, where 70% of Russia’s oil production is located.”
Moshkovich, who holds advanced degrees in industrial economics and systems engineering, founded Moschanco Investment Group 2000 in 1993. It became a major developer of energy infrastructure projects in Khanty Mansisk—an autonomous region of Russia in Western Siberia.
Also in 1993, Moschanco Investment Group 2000, in a joint venture with Saratovneftgas, created a new oil firm called Technoforce. “Technoforce was a joint stock oil company in Russia that focused on exploration and production,” Moshkovich says. “Technoforce successfully developed and deployed Ren-Oil technologies for secondary oil recovery before being sold to TNK-BP-Sidanko in 1997.”
Moschanco Investment Group 2000 retains the rights to Ren-Oil technology and to Enviroagent for oil extraction from tar sands and other media, according to Moshkovich.
Meanwhile, as those firms developed, Moshkovich was moving ahead with other ventures, founding 21st Century Technologies LLC in 1998. Initially, the company had the exclusive distributorship for DS2Tech Inc., a firm founded by William Wissman, Floyd England, and Jacques Jeanblau that specialized in desulfurization. In just 7 years, though, 21st Century Technologies acquired DS2Tech Inc. and now offers desulfurization units that can be installed at refineries and terminals as well as along petroleum product pipelines.
More growth eyed
At the moment, Moshkovich is looking for even more growth, and he is clear about the challenges he faces. “The top operational challenge for my company is to scale up to be a truly global enterprise,” he says, adding, “This is not easy.”
Why so? “There are so many things that one has to know, ranging from the cultural realities of where you are operating to the details of the law—especially tax and labor,” he says. “You quickly become aware that if you do not pay close attention to small details, they can develop into very big and serious issues that could make it difficult to continue to operate in certain countries.”
There’s little doubt that Moshkovich has gained insights into the challenges of working overseas. In fact, from 1996-99, he was employed as senior advisor to the head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In that capacity his direct responsibilities were to evaluate and commercialize new technologies for deployment in the Confederation of Independent States (CIS).
“Just as we sponsor cancer research, we should be sponsoring R&D in alternative technologies.”—GenebMoshkovich
From 1993-97, Moshkovich served in Saratov, Russia, as president of Technoforce.
Moshkovich said he has fond memories of those days, not the least of which is the satisfaction of seeing the incredibly rapid rise of Sartovneftgas.
“In 1994,” he says, “I went to see Alex Putilov, who was head of Rosneft at the time. I said ‘Why not buy the controlling interest of Sartovneftgas?’ [Putilov] asked his experts, and a few days later they told him the position was not worth more than $10 million, so Putilov passed on the deal. In 2006 this same position in Sartovneftgas was sold for $577 million.”
Experience abroad has given Moshkovich remarkable insights into aspects of the global oil and gas industry—especially the refining industry in Russia.
“The problem of quality refineries is not limited to one geographical area, it is a problem everywhere in the world,” says Moshkovich. “For example, in Russia, all refineries are owned by the oil companies. And since environmental standards in Russia are not tough enough, even if they are moving to the right direction, the oil companies focus on just selling oil,” he says.
“Though there are a few large refineries going through upgrades, the process is very slow,” Moshkovich says. “The government is trying to make environmental regulations stronger. It recently proclaimed that it was going to sponsor the construction of a dozen independent refineries. They will not enjoy the windfall profits of the vertical oil companies, and they will have to be very efficient to be in business there.”
In his view, “This is a very smart move by the Russian government to put competition in the refinery business in Russia. This will be the best instrument to insure that refineries will compete for the better and most cost-effective production,” he said.
Upbeat view
Moshkovich has an upbeat view of the oil and gas industry, especially looking to the future.
“This time is a good opportunity for oil companies to diversify,” he says. “They could look for new fields—they now have plenty of money—[and] upgrade refineries with new technologies, particularly the refineries that are owned by the oil companies,” he says.
“This is also a good time for the oil companies to invest in alternative energy technology,” he added. He said the need for hydrocarbon products will remain very high, “and I think for the next 10-20 years the world will not be able to replace hydrocarbon fuel, particularly for the next 10 years,” he says.
“Even during the next 20 years, the world—especially the more developed countries— can replace 50-60% of hydrocarbon fuels with alternative technology,” he says, adding, “That would be a goal for the industrialized countries.”
While some observers take a pessimistic view of the future, especially when it comes to cooperation among nations in the search for oil and gas, Moshkovich is much more optimistic.
“Oil fields that in the past would have been impossible to develop, like [those in] the Arctic Sea, are now able to be explored,” he says.
While conceding that the US will develop a “very smart and aggressive” policy to obtain concessions in different parts of the world, Moshkovich still believes “there could be a joint effort [among] Russia, United States, Canada, Norway, England, and perhaps China to work in the Arctic Sea.” In fact, he says if such cooperative efforts were made today, “within 10 years we will know exactly what is there.”
Meanwhile, he says, there is room for improvement in other areas of the industry—in particular, research and development of new technologies.
“We need more money for technologies from the industry. Just as we sponsor cancer research, we should be sponsoring research and development in alternative technologies, we have to have more grants and funding for R&D development.” For example, he said, the lone technology that today is “the technology of choice for desulfurization—because there is no choice—is hydrodesulfurization. And with all the upgrades of this technology, it is still one of the most energy-consuming and inefficient technologies . And there are many such technologies—new technologies—that have been developed but could not find a place under the roof.”
Career highlights
Gennady “Gene” Moshkovich, Beverly Hills, Calif., ([email protected]) has been president of Moschanko Investment Group 2000 Inc. since 1993, president of 21st Century Technologies LLC since 1999, and chief executive officer of DS2Tech Inc. since 2006.
Employment
Moshkovich served as senior advisor to the head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) during 1996-99 and was president of Technoforce in Saratov, Russia in 1993-97.
He was president of Kompat in Moscow during 1998-2002, president of the Federation of Research Chemical Engineers, Ventura, Calif., in 1989-92, and an independent developer in Los Angeles and Torino, Italy, during 1982-89.
Earlier in his career, Moshkovich was a senior industrial engineer at the automation aluminum plant of Martin Marietta Aerospace in Torrance, Calif., during 1980-82, and he worked for Thomas Electronics Inc. as product manager at the cathode ray tube division in Wayne, NJ, for the US Department of Defense. Prior to that he was department head for the automation glass industry at the Institute R&D of Automation & New Technologies (VIASM) in Kiev, USSR.
Education
Moshkovich was awarded a masters degree in industrial economics at the University of Industrial Economics, Saratov Russia in 1969. He later earned a PhD in system engineering in 1975 at the Kiev Institute of Construction Technology, Moscow Institute of Glass and Building Materials. In 1981 he was certified as a manufacturing engineer in robotics at the Robotics Institute of Detroit.
