The Elephant & the Dragon

Over the last decade, the oil consumption needs of India and China have increased exponentially. However demand outstrips supply in both the countries which has led to energy security emerging as a key focus area. In recent months both countries have been outbidding each other to acquire promising oil& gas reserves across borders, across continents.

China has emerged as the clear leader in this race on the strength of its vast capital reserves and availability of cutting edge oilfield services technology. Also at the macroeconomic level the Chinese government has been more aggressive in development of human potential for oil& gas sector as compared to the Indian government. So in this race for energy, how can India Inc. compete with China?

One word- talent.

India’s pool of technically proficient, English speaking engineers have been well utilized in the Business Process Outsourcing and technology offshoring industry. This very pool could be a potent weapon for Indian corporations in the oil & gas space as well. There are a couple of models for this:
• Indian IOCs (a rare bird, India based international oil companies, but I think we’ll start seeing more of these in the coming years) can use in-house talent to help drive and deliver on their international expansions. What would set them apart for other IOCs? Access to cost effective people and processes that they have perfected in their home country. Host countries and governments are looking for knowledge transfer, and this could be a vehicle for that.
• India based services companies can leverage the knowledge base and cost model to compete with other services organization, particularly in SE Asia and the Middle East. Schlumberger has already been sourcing top Indian field engineers for international deployment very effectively over the last decade
• International services companies could build centers of excellence within India. A good model to follow could be IT companies like IBM and Accenture who have built practice hubs in India to support worldwide service delivery. The growth in digitization of services to the energy industry is a trend that can lift a lot of boats in India.

Some forward leaning organizations have already started down this path. If the stars align over the next couple of years in terms of regulatory regimes, hydrocarbon prices and the broad demographic shifts in India, then India Inc. could be a force to reckon with in the global energy industry.

Talent landscape in India for Oil & GAs

We have been lax in updating the blog for a couple of months- apologies to our followers. The Global Energy Talent team has been hard at work in expanding the human capability model to different stakeholders- companies, students, academia, regulators. With some wins under our belt, we hope to surface more often and talk about the intersection of the energy industry and human talent.

On this note- Global Energy Talent recently ran a Leaders Conclave in New Delhi on Feb 4, in association with the Petrotech Society of India. CEOs, Directors and chairpersons of different Oil & Gas companies attended, both from India and around the world. The topic of discussion was how to leverage Indian talent for better use in O&G projects in India, as well as around the world. To help set the stage, a question was posed- can India build an O&G industry with the IT industry as a model?

A couple of interesting observations from participants:
- How can the industry better communicate the advantages of a career in O&G to college students.. its still perceived as an old line industry. Can mass media be better used? Who are the influencers that need to be convinced?
- How to best train up young professionals. How can decision making be pushed down lower into the organization so younger execs have ability to take leading decisions earlier in their working careers? What kind of knowledge management practices need to be put in place to ensure organizational knowledge gets passed on?
- What business opportunities open up in the O&G space due to the pool of technical talent in India (which is yet somewhat unpolished). Can Indian-based oil companies use this as a differentiator as they expand to outside geographies? What about remote service delivery using India as center of excellence?

It was a fascinating discussion and we'll be taking these ideas forward in several forums.. stay tuned. If you'd like to receive a precis of the event, do contact us at info@globalenergytalent.com