The 54th annual day of Keshava Deva Malaviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration (KDMIPE), ONGC, Dehradun was celebrated on Saturday at the AMN Ghosh Auditorium of KDMIPE. The premier national institute in the realm of oil and natural gas commemorates the phenomenal contributions of the founding father of the Indian hydrocarbon industry, late Keshava Deva Malaviya. Institute of Petroleum Exploration (IPE) was renamed after him on December 19 1981 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Notably, it was founded in 1962 with an objective to provide geo-scientific back up to the exploratory efforts of India’s national oil company, ONGC. ONGC has nine R&D institutes that are being independently managed. The KDMIPE is the premier centre for basic and applied research in petroleum exploration. KDMIPE deals with the research needs of the various ONGC regions in the areas of basin analysis, petroleum economics, geosciences and developing alternative sources of energy.
In the early 1950s, the international oil lobby sought to prove that India had no producible reserves of oil or gas. But then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Union Minister for Natural Resources Keshav Dev Malaviya knew better. Nehru said: “A country that does not produce its own oil is in a weak position. From the point of view of defence, the absence of oil is a fatal weakness.”
By the early 1960s, ONGC’s early successes in Cambay and Ankleshwar had acquired some credibility in the eyes of the Planning Commission. It was well- known that most of the leading oil exploration and production companies spent two perecent of their budget on research and development.
Primarily, the institute was a nodal agency for applied research on all aspects of oil exploration and development. It first undertook basin studies of the various sedimentary basins in the country. In order to encourage research, ONGC started giving special research allowance to scientists. Trainees from Philippines, Sri lanka, Iraq and other countries came and as its activities and scope expanded, it was given the new name of the Institute of Petroleum Exploration (IPE) in 1971.
A K Dwivedi , director (Exploration) , ONGC, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that the hydrocarbon exploration in the present time is fraught with multiple and multi-faceted challenges owing to the advent of the complexities and technology demand. He stressed on the need of value maximization through a renewed and targeted focus on R&D across the value chain of exploration and production of hydrocarbons.
The event was designed with a focus on extracting the most from the commingling of ideas involving all concerned so as to steer the future course of the institute through value addition while meeting the commercial goals as well.
On the occasion, four publications - The ONGC Bulletin , Annual Report – KDMIPE, Samidha and Saranshika were released by Dwivedi.
Addressing the gathering, former secretary to Department of Ocean Development, Government of India, Harsh K Gupta gave a lecture on KDM Memorial. later, theme -based talks by domain experts on Remote Sensing and Geo – informatics , Non-Seismic Exploration , Analog Modeling of geological Structures and Unconventional Resources were delivered.
Head of the institute, D N Singh said KDMPIE has been moving along its charted lines through adapting to changing expectations from the generation while making major contributions in the growth history of ONGC.
During the programme, an audio-visual detailing the mission concerning the vision that Pt Keshava Deva Malaviya embodies was displayed that included glimpses of the past as well as the journey of KDMIPE through the moving time.