What is the mission of Getenergy?
Getenergy was originally created on the fringes of the Offshore Europe exhibition in Aberdeen in 2003. I was asked by the British government to run a meeting on education and training for 20 staff from national and international oil companies who were visiting the show. The meeting clearly demonstrated that the upstream industry desired a dedicated event entirely focused on education and training. Getenergy (Global Education and Training for Energy) was the company that emerged in 2004 following this discussion.
Getenergy was founded by accident, not design, based on a niche, yet clear, industry need. Getenergy does not provide or sell training; rather it is a platform for those who do, to meet the needs of those who require often complex training and education solutions, particularly in developing hydrocarbon provinces, where training is both part of the contractual obligation for IOCs and at the heart of the national economic development agenda.
Are most of your events designed to bring together NOCs, IOCs, academia, and the service sector?
Rather like preparing drilling muds, our meetings require all the right ingredients in the correct quantity. We seek, in every event, to have an equal number of universities, local colleges, training providers, and national and international oil and gas company representatives. We have a Learning Arena exhibition, which allocates space to exhibitors representing the world’s largest oil companies or the smallest university departments. In many of our meetings, universities from brand-new hydrocarbon provinces participate in what often represents the first international meeting they have attended.
You have an upcoming training event in London. What will the focus be? How is it unique? How many countries will be represented?
In addition to regional and national meetings Getenergy has, since 2005, organized an annual global meeting. This is really our flagship event, which has taken place in Houston (2005), Dubai (2006–07), London (2008–09), Kuala Lumpur (2010), Calgary (2011), and London (2012–13). The next global meeting is in London during 3–5 June and will see participation from those concerned with education, training, and technical learning delivery from 45 countries for 3 days of workshops, our Learning Arena Exhibition, and our “Power Point-free” Exchange sessions. We will have delegations from universities, institutes, and the oil and gas industry in Brazil, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, Malaysia, China, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Tanzania, among others. Our annual global event is unique not only in terms of audience, but also the detailed discussions among national and international oil and gas companies and the global education and training community that take place.
You are in an unusual position to observe what types of training courses that different sectors of the industry—NOC, IOC, service company—express interest in. Do you see any recent trends or shifts developing? Has the growth in unconventionals development had an impact?
We have observed the changing focus on education and training in the upstream industry over the past 10 years. During the price slump of 2008–09, NOCs and their governments were suddenly very aware that in a low oil price environment, the need to train and develop local staff is even more important than when the oil price is high.
If one then looks at this 2-year period and explores the likely impact on net producers of the shale gas revolution in oil/gas-consuming nations, we can see a likely trend for education and training in the upstream business. I believe we will see countries that own and export resources no longer talking about remote 2050–2060 “vision” documents, but focused much more intently on huge-scale training and development of their national workforce today.
How are the training challenges facing IOCs and NOCs different?
My previous comments illustrate one major challenge for NOCs, namely that training and education represents an urgent route by which they can convert hydrocarbon resources in the ground to economic diversity through skills in the population. The IOC position is different. One might focus on the aging workforce in Western oil and gas companies, the need for knowledge transfer between generations of petroleum engineers, and the requirement for innovation in new technology.
However, the greatest challenge for IOCs is best summed up by a recent encounter I had with the global HR director from a major at a meeting in Kazakhstan. He told me that he recognized that IOCs are now in an intense competition with one another for business with NOCs and that training is a key differentiator. But he also felt, mistakenly, I believe, that training and learning was the preserve of human resources and his responsibility. But I have seen an increasing gap emerging, certainly in the past 10 years, between those who regard training as something that falls within the remit of corporate HR and those in the field in developing countries whose jobs are to secure and deliver complex contracts with national companies.
For engineers and managers, education and training is a local and immediate priority; field by field, well by well. In the world of the country manager and the petroleum engineer, training and education are now part of the real business of oil and gas exploration and production.
Getenergy has a relationship with SPE. What upcoming events are the two organizations working on?
Getenergy’s relationship with SPE demonstrates the commitment that the society has toward getting a grip on the training and education challenges facing the upstream industry now and in the future. SPE is supporting Getenergy’s annual global event in 2013 and, in return, Getenergy brings universities, colleges, and training providers into key SPE technical meetings around the world. We are proud of this developing relationship and are committed to working with professional associations and trade bodies to ensure that the increasingly sophisticated issues around education and training are front and center and accessible to the petroleum engineering and geoscience community of which SPE is clearly one of the leading membership organizations.
The Getenergy Global Event will be held 3–5 June 2013 at the Business Design Centre in London, with 45 countries participating. To register, or to receive more information, please go to www.getenergyevent.com or contact office@getenergyevent.com.
