The 53rd Annual Day of Keshava Deva Malaviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration (KDMIPE), ONGC, Dehradun was celebrated on Friday.
The event witnessed participation of luminaries of India’s E&P sector including Dr SK Biswas, former Director, KDMIPE and Kuldeep Chandra, former Director, KDMIPE. Dr DN Singh, GGM-Head of Institute, KDMIPE presided over the session which observed sentimental, generational and occupational tribute to the Founding Father and Architect of not only ONGC, but India’s entire indigenous petroleum industry, late Pt. Keshava Deva Malaviya.
In a bid to make energy self-reliance through exploration of hydrocarbons in the vast sedimentary basins of the country, ONGC was founded in Dehradun, which essentially sowed the seed of what has now become India’s premier and internationally acclaimed E&P company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation limited. What was once the Research and Training Institute of ONGC in 1962 to groom budding geoscientists for its exploration needs, was reborn as Institute of Petroleum exploration in 1971 until it was renamed after Pt. Keshava Deva Malaviya on 19th December 1981 and became the KDMIPE as we know it.In his address, KS Pangtey, GGM (Geology) and Head labs explained about the role of KDMIPE,the mother of all the institutes, in knowledge building and toward R & D support for Oil and gas exploration in more than five decades.
Sharing the highlights and achievements of KDMIPE under the guiding principles of its founding fathers, Dr D N Singh expressed the need for pursuit of excellence beyond mere response to assignments, so as to bring the institute ahead of its league. He proposed incubation of Corporate Intellectual Warehousing to help preserve the invaluable intellectual property of ONGC’s exploratory efforts and renewed focus on advancement of related domains through experimental geosciences, besides greater push to Industry-Academia partnership to ensure continuity and sustained pursuit of objectives of National Importance.
Sharing precious memories from the good-old days and personal experiences with the doyens of independent India’s first line of energy soldiers, SK Biswas dwelt on how the great leaders shaped the future of India’s progress as we are enjoying it today. He called upon the present office-bearers to ensure that the young talent is nurtured carefully to ensure that the stream of excellence continues to flow and the immense potential of KDMIPE to attain its true potential in line with the world’s leading R&D centers is realized.
Anand Sahu, ED-Chief E&D Dte and OSD (Exploration), who was the chief guest, ONGC recounted on how the superior mentoring of the leading lights of geosciences at KDMIPE have helped shape ONGC’s exploration streams. Elaborating on the hidden strengths and latent potential of the institute he stressed on using the occasion to collect thoughts, straighten vision, synchronize efforts, shed redundant and repetitious routines, scrape off business-as-usual mindset, shrug away from not-my-job attitude, become forthright and forthcoming, welcome out-of-the-box and off-the-beaten-path approaches of function and make mid-course corrections. He proposed a two-pronged strategy of KDMIPE functioning, wherein the routine jobs do not pose any hindrance in pure research and development of innovative exploration solutions.