PetroFed organised, in association with the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) a one day “Brainstorming on R&D in the Oil & Gas Sector” on January 7, 2006 at Hotel Shangri-La, New Delhi .

The first half of the day devoted to the upstream sector was coordinated by DGH & the second half of the day devoted to the downstream sector was coordinated by PetroFed. This was organized at the initiative of the Hon'ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas & Panchayati Raj, Sh. Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The first such Brainstorming Session held on March 2, 2005 was devoted to the upstream sector. Five working groups had been formed then to form hydrocarbon groups at Houston, Calgary & London for knowledge sharing and collaboration; suggest measures to enhance the number of petroleum science graduates from Indian academic institutions; suggest strategy for service providers to set up nucleus /hub in India; suggest modalities for creation of National Data Repository and National Technology Bank for hydrocarbon; and review on quarterly basis research programmes of ONGC's R&D institutes.

The day's first session on the Downstream Sector began with welcome by Sh. V.K. Sibal, Director General, DGH. It was inaugurated thereafter by Sh. M.S. Srinivasan, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas who highlighted the need for Energy Security and the importance of R&D & innovative thinking in accomplishing the same. An over view of R&D alliances with counter part Governments and agencies during 2005 was provided by Sh. Sunjoy Joshi, Joint Secretary, MoP&NG. A presentation was made thereafter by Sh. Sanjay Burman Roy of RIL on behalf of his committee on Strategy to encourage Global E&P Service Providers to consider India as a hub. The other members of the committee were Sh. Y. Sahai, Director (C&M), PetroFed, Sh. Malcolm V. Lall, DGH & Sh. A.J. Das, ONGC. The committee's report had been prepared with the assistance of PetroFed and its member company and knowledge partner PwC taking into account international success stories. A bound copy of the report was also presented to the Hon'ble Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and the Secretary, MoP&NG.

Dr. D.M.Kale, Executive Director (R&D), ONGC made a detailed presentation on the collaborative projects undertaken by ONGC. After offering invitees from the academia and international representatives an opportunity to express their views, the Hon'ble Minister addressed the participants. He exhorted for networking and strengthening of our knowledge base to be at the frontier of global knowledge.

The second session on the Downstream Sector began with a formal welcome by Sh. P. Raghavendran, Vice Chairman, PetroFed and President (Refinery Business), RIL. There were presentations thereafter on “Management of Collaborative Research”,by Dr. K.S. Balaraman, ED, CHT; “Management of R&D in Petrochemicals” by Sh. Kamal Nanavaty, President (Cracker & Polymer Sector), RIL; “Refinery Processes”, by Dr. M.A. Siddiqui, GM (R&D), BPCL; “Fuels and Lubes”, by Dr. R.P. Verma, ED(R&D), IOCL; “ Alternative Energy” by Dr. M.O. Garg, Director, IIP, Dehradun; “and on “Transportation of Gas through Synthetic Hydrates” by Sh. Sanjay Bairagi, Chief Manager (TTA), GAIL.

In the lively open session scientists and members of the academia freely expressed their views. Some of the keys speakers included Dr. R.K. Khandal, Director, Shriram Institute; Dr. K.V. Raghavan, DRDO; Sh. Barry Cooper, Haldor Topsoe; Prof. R.P. Sharma, IIT, Chennai; Dr. A.K. Bhatnagar, Advisor, R&D, HPCL; Dr. P.K. Mukhopadhyay, former Chairman & Director (R&D), IOC etc.

The session concluded with an address by the Hon'ble Minister who desired a road map on R&D to be developed for the downstream sector and a multi-institutional system set up for an integrated technology forum. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks by PetroFed.

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A section of the participants

Dr. M.A. Siddiqui,GM(R&D), BPCL talking on "Refinery Processes"