I.       Challenges and opportunities:

1.1       Efficient reliable and competitively priced energy supplies are prerequisite for accelerating economic growth.  India is currently world’s fifth largest consumer of energy accounting for 3.9% of world’s annual energy consumption.  USA, China, Russian federation and Japan are the top four consumers.  India’s import dependence on crude oil and petroleum products is more than 70%.  Realization of high economic growth aspirations by the country in the coming decades, calls for rapid development of energy market.

1.2       The India Hydrocarbon Vision-2025 report, which encapsulates Government’s long-term policy for this sector enunciate therein the long-term policy covering exploration, refining, marketing infrastructure, gas and all other related matters in the hydrocarbon sector.  The national endeavor is to bridge the ever-increasing gap between demand and supply of petroleum products in India by intensifying exploratory efforts for oil and gas in the Indian sedimentary basins and abroad supported by other alternative sources of energy like Coal Bed Methane (CBM), Gas Hydrates, Coal Liquefaction, Ethanol and Bio-diesel etc.

1.3       Following the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), over the last 6 years there has been a significant growth in E&P activities in India.  There have been several successes.  These finds will require state of the art technologies to extract the hydrocarbons as well as highly skilled and competent professionals to manage the industry.  The E&P industry today is using cutting-edge technologies to locate hydrocarbons and optimize efficiency in production.  These technologies include the use of complex reservoir modeling and simulation, nuclear magnetism, sonic & ultra-sonic technologies, magnetic resonance, advanced chemical engineering, fluid mechanics, telecommunication, process engineering etc.

1.4       As “easy oil” has become a thing of the past, the industry is moving towards frontier areas to increase production.  The high value of the end product has led to significant technological developments to tap resources in offshore environs of deep and ultra deep water (from 300-3500 meter water depth).Heavy oil consists of over 40% of the hydrocarbon resources in the world.  This oil does not flow at surface conditions.  Optimizing the recovery of hydrocarbons from existing producing fields (called “brown fields”) remains an existing challenge.  Current recovery rates in India need considerable enhancement.  These are just some examples of the E&P challenges that are found in India and an opportunity for the use of state of the art technologies and developing manpower for meeting these challenges.

II.      Industry – Academia Interaction:

2.1       All the above endeavor require highly skilled and competent professions.  PetroFed projected a need by 2012 for 8000 additional skilled professionals annually in the Indian E&P sector, the current capacity for new graduates in Petroleum Related Geo-sciences is about 450.

2.2       In March, 2005 and January, 2006 brainstorming sessions were held to identify gap in demand and supply of petroleum personnel in India.  Accordingly, Petrofed was authorized to conduct a study in this regard.  Petrofed engaged the services of Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC).  The study conducted by PwC recommended action points for Government organizations and education sector along with suggestions for the way forward.

2.2.1.  Action points for Government:
            (i)         Increase number of talents available to the E&P sector.
            (ii)        MOP&NG may implement a plan to communicate the attractiveness of the industry say a “Go Explore” campaign where students right from the class 10th  onwards, hear and understand about career opportunities in the E&P sector.
           
(iii)       MOP&NG and M/o HRD may set up a joint committee to monitor and address the talent requirements of the industry – Course and curriculum may be reviewed and infrastructure may be planned to provide higher quality of education.

2.2.2   Action points for Organizations:
(i)         A higher degree of collaboration between the industry and educational institutions.
(ii)        Joint committee to take up manpower planning issues and Institute Industry – Academia Interface.
(iii)       Plan sector specific programmes like workshops, seminars, technical contests etc.
(iv)       A communication campaign aiming to draw young talent to the E&P sector.
(v)        Utilization of retired/retiring professionals as mentors/trainers to enable transfer of knowledge.
(vi)       Adoption of college going students at entry level to nurture their growth and readiness for the industry.

2.2.3   Action points for the Education Sector:
(i)         Expansion of training programmes to address immediate and emerging skills shortage.
(ii)        Orientation of students to prepare prospective employees for careers in the oil and gas industry.
(iii)       Expansion of current initiatives to achieve an appropriate level of applied research programmes.
(iv)       Expansion of current intake in E&P related courses as well as set up new courses.
(v)        Increasing the level of common industry standards for vocational training across India.
(vi)       Establishing feedback mechanism for infrastructure, curriculum and faculty.
(vii)      Indian Institutes may plan catering to the global opportunities.

2.2.4   The way forward:

• The Central Government has set up Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT),  a center of excellence, catering to the needs of Oil & Gas Industry with effect from Academic Session, 2008-09.
• State owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation has promoted the Gujarat Energy Research & Management Institute (GERMI).
• These will start contributing to the industry over the next 3-5 years.
• University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, can provide additional tailor made programs for Oil & Gas Industry.
• MOP&NG has also decided to review the steps and initiatives undertaken by the industry to address the talent scenario by bringing it under the purview of QPR (Quarterly Performance Reviews) with effect from April, 2007.
• Build the attractiveness of the E&P Sector to assure inflow of quality talent.
• “Go Explore” and other brand building campaigns for Oil & Gas Sector.
•  Set-up and institutionalize the industry – academia interface.
• HR Systems (such as training, career planning, compensation and retention) in Oil & Gas Companies need to be made more effective and monitored on an ongoing basis.

2.3       Curriculum:

2.3.1   A dedicated team of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons has since prepared draft curriculum to enhance petroleum science graduates and post graduates.  This curriculum has been discussed in detail with IIT, Mumbai, IIT Kharagpur, ISM Dhanbad, Osmania University and MIT Pune.

2.3.2   The requirement for E&P competency development in Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences can be broadly split into 3 categories.

• Traditional B.Sc, MS, Dual Degree courses offered by National Institutes.
• Post Graduate and Doctorate research programmes offered by specialized Institutes.  These would require strong industry – academia partnership.
• Short courses of duration from 1 week to 3 months.  These would be for learning very specific skills and could be offered as a skill-updates program for existing staff or for new hires.  These programs would have large proportion of practical content, hands-on and specific to industry.

III.         Proposed Brain-storming session:

3.1       The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has invited Directors/Heads of reputed Educational Institutes in India and the CEOs of  oil & gas companies operating in India for a brainstorming session on 17.10.2008 at Hotel Ashoka, Banquet Hall, Chankyapuri, New Delhi to gather feedback from Industry and Academia alike in order to define a roadmap for developing the necessary competency in Oil & Gas Sector that the country requires to meet and sustain its economic growth.  The meeting has been sponsored by ONGC, DGH and Petrofed.  M/s. Schlumberger is the knowledge partner for the event.

3.2       Programme:

3.2.1   A copy of detailed programme (Agenda) is enclosed. Following the initial introduction by the DGH & Ministry and presentations by PwC, ONGC, RGIPT, M/s. Schlumberger, we would like to obtain valuable feedback from the invited leaders in our industry and academia.  For this purpose 4 topics for brainstorming that have been chosen are as below:

(i)         Developing curricula to be taken up by Reputed Educational Institutes like IITs and NITs based on petroleum industry demand:

• For training
• For education and research
• Needs breadth to empower students and faculty (eg. Major in mech. Eng. With minor in rock mechanics, major in applied math with minor in reservoir simulation).

(ii)        How to leverage quality faculty and cultivate trainers.

• Develop academic culture (IISc and TIFR as example)
• Post graduate research
• High quality labs
• Use assistance of known retired faculty

(iii)       Enhancing industry – academia interaction

• Sabbaticals for faculty from industry and vice versa
• Comparison to Newton Institute Santa Barbara, BP Institute in Cambridge
• Cultivate interaction – show value to industry.

(iv)       Evolving a comprehensive HR policy for oil industry.

• Assessment of existing gap in demand and supply of petroleum personnel.
• How to implement/fund the suggestions with regard to issues listed at (i) to (iii) above.

3.2.2   Following the brainstorming discussions, Rapporteurs for each of the topics would summarize their findings in a brief presentation. The valedictory session would finalize the actionable points based on day long deliberations.

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