The Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) organized the Youth Forum 2019 during 9 – 10 January, 2019 in New Delhi. The Youth Forum 2019 organized under the umbrella of Petrotech 2019, India’s flagship energy conference, was uniquely designed to bring under one roof, students from across the country and industry leaders to interact and explore the prospects of a rewarding career in the oil and gas industry. The event witnessed participation of over 200 students from various colleges and universities across the country. Many eminent personalities such as Mr. Sanjiv Singh, Chairman, IndianOil; Dr. Mahesh Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, Kent RO Systems Ltd; Brig (Dr) Sunil Kumar Moudgil and Mr. Anish De, Partner & Head, Energy and Natural Resources, KPMG India interacted with the students over the course of this event.
To shortlist the students for attending the event, FIPI had organized an online quiz, open to all students across the country, which received an overwhelming response with participation of students from more than 30 colleges. Top 200 students from the online quiz were shortlisted based on their marks, and were invited to participate in the Youth Forum 2019. Along with the quiz, to encourage innovation and creativity among students, FIPI had also called for entries for a photography and short film competition this year, based on the theme ‘Innovation in Energy’. The programme, at this two-day event was carefully designed with a perfect blend of informative and entertaining sessions to keep the students engaged throughout the event and ensure rich takeaways.
The event opened with a warm welcome address by Mr. Rajiv Bahl, Director (Finance and Taxation), FIPI. Mr. Bahl underlined that the objective of Youth Forum 2019 is to provide students with an opportunity to interact with the leaders of Indian oil and gas industry and to provide an ideal platform to explore the opportunities available in the sector. He mentioned that as the country continues to grow at a brisk pace, the demand for energy is poised to grow significantly in the years to come. He also emphasized that the growing energy sector will present a vast range of opportunities to the youth in the country.
The next session of the day was an experience sharing session with some of the most successful start-ups in the space of energy to encourage the students and to make them aware of the support being made available by the oil sector PSUs to young entrepreneurs. In this session, senior representatives from H2E Power, Detect Technologies and Chakr Innovation shared with the students their experiences, challenges faced by them and how these successful start-ups managed to overcome them.
In the live quiz contest that followed, eight students were shortlisted through an open online quiz, where all the students present at the event participated. The eight students were divided in four teams of two each, which were invited on stage by the quiz master to compete in the second round of the contest. The live quiz contest heightened the student excitement and kept the participants and the audience at the edge of their seats, as the session approached a nail-biting finish.
The next session was a motivational talk by Brig. Sunil Kumar Moudgil. The high-octane interactive session by Brig. Moudgil fully engaged the students and proved a big ice breaker for students coming from different parts of the country and uplifted the general mood. He encouraged students to accept new challenges in life and approach each obstacle with self-belief. The first day of Youth Forum 2019 ended with a cultural evening and dinner.
The day two of the event started with research paper presentations. For this session, FIPI had invited three of the most innovative research papers focused on tackling energy issues. The findings presented by researchers at this occasion on varied issues such as ‘Future of Oil for Transportation’; ‘Strategies for Using Refinery Hydrogen as a Fuel for Fuel Cells’; and ‘Biodiesel Production along with High Value Omega-3 Fatty Acids’ attracted much attention from students.
At the interactive session with the role model, Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Founder-Chairman, Kent RO Systems shared from his rich experiences as a successful entrepreneur and underlined the importance of hard work and perseverance. He further emphasized on importance of taking calculated risks and readiness to embrace the newest technologies for aspiring entrepreneurs. At this occasion, to apprise the students with the importance of technological developments in the sector, Mr. Anish De from KPMG made a presentation on the ‘Role Played by Technology and Innovation in Oil and Gas Sector’ and mentioned the vast opportunities this space presents for the students.
The highlight of the event remained the interactive session with Mr. Sanjiv Singh, Chairman, IndianOil alongwith Dr. R.K. Malhotra Director General FIPI. Mr. Singh in a very eloquent manner introduced the students to the Indian oil and gas industry and informed them about the potential growth areas and the exciting career opportunities in the oil and gas space. He suggested that the newest technological advancements in the sector will have a long lasting impact on the dynamics of the global energy industry. With new technologies like Electric Vehicles (EVs) and LNG driven vehicles on the horizon, he urged the students to view these fuel technologies in combination as they will coexist in the near future. At the occasion, Dr R K Malhotra, Director General, FIPI encouraged students to stay abreast with the latest developments in the sector and explore newer possibilities to contribute to the growth of the sector. With a number of students eager to interact with the Chairman, Mr. Singh patiently answered to a number of student queries.
The two-day event ended on a high note with winners of various competitions at the event winning exciting prizes and setting the right tone for the larger event, Petrotech 2019, scheduled between 10 – 12 February, 2019.
