GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS OF EXHIBITION ACTIVITIES IN THE RUSSIAN OIL AND GAS SECTOR

The study is devoted to identifying the general and geographical features of the formation and functioning of exhibitions in the oil and gas sector of Russia. To this end, the author has compiled a database containing comparable information on all studied exhibitions: the name, the city, the venue, the organizer, the number of exhibitors, foreign exhibitors, the countries of participants, visitors, status of the exhibition. On this basis, the exhibitions were ranked according to each of the listed indicators, and the largest exhibitions have been identified; the description of exhibition activities at the level of federal districts is provided, with an emphasis on the intensity, territorial concentration, themes of exhibitions, and placement factors. There have been distinguished three exhibition areas in the industry under study: Central, Ural-Volga, Siberian. The paper presents the characteristics of the areas, shows differences in the total number of exhibition events, their status, venues, the status of organizing companies, exhibition themes, features of territorial concentration, and placement factors. Finally, the factors influencing the location of exhibitions of the oil and gas sector in Russia have been identified. Among them, special attention is paid to the presence of a well-developed business infrastructure that allows for quick and efficient resolution of any issues concerning the interaction between different entities of any sector of the economy; the presence of a well-developed exhibition infrastructure, making it possible to effectively serve the needs of participants in industry specific exhibitions (concentration of exhibition sites, warehouses, customs authorities, financial institutions, security services, communications, transport, accommodation facilities, public catering, etc.); good transport accessibility, specialization of the territory in the extraction and processing of oil and gas.