New features at IPTC highlight oil and gas industry benefits to potential recruits, help young professionals survive economic downturn

According to Leor Rotchild from the World Petroleum Council Youth Committee, the average age of an oil and gas employee is 50 years old and there will be an estimated 38% shortage of engineers and geoscientists in the industry by 2010.

The organisers of the biennial International Petroleum Technology Conference, taking place in Doha, Qatar from 7 to 9 December under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, have responded to the concerns for new talent with new features at the conference designed to open the industry up to young people.

Oil and gas recruitment was hit hard due to the vast redundancies in the 1980s and 1990s, which resulted in an 85% drop in petroleum-related undergraduate enrolment between 1982 and 2003, according to Rotchild.

The Education Day at the IPTC, on Tuesday 8 December, will introduce regional high school students to petroleum engineering. They will be able to hear from professionals such as David Khemakhem from ExxonMobil and Louai Machhour from Total about why the sector has attractive career potential.

Furthermore, the competitive Education Week, from 5-9 December, selects the world's top engineering, geoscience and science degree students from qualified institutions to work together on a joint technical project and provide the industry's next generation of professionals the chance to network and meet potential employers.

More than 200 students were nominated to attend but only 80 were selected, representing 56 institutions from 35 countries.

Highlights of the Education Week include a field trip to Khor Al Udaid for a team building and project planning exercise and an evening recruitment and professional society session where the participating students can discuss viable career opportunities with employers from around the world.

Despite the decline in the quantity of new talent to the petroleum industry, the energy sector is still attracting good quality candidates, hiring greater numbers of MBA graduates in 2005 and 2006, and the profession offers high salaries and strong career progression. The Young Professionals Day, on Sunday 6 December, will offer recently appointed oil and gas employees insight into how to survive the current economic challenges.

"The recent price volatility in the energy sector has created an uncertain business climate, one which has never been experienced by young professionals in the sector before," said Sultan Al-Merikhi, Manager, Oil and Gas Ventures Technical Services at Qatar Petroleum and Co-Chairperson for the Young Professionals Day at the IPTC.

"As well as the need to recruit new talent to the industry, we need to call upon our experiences of surviving crises and show our younger colleagues what we can learn from the past in our cyclical sector and how we can grow stronger despite the economic downturn."

Panel sessions at the Young Professionals Day will be attended by senior management from worldwide organisations such as Shell, Schlumberger, Kuwait Oil Company and ExxonMobil.

"We will address key issues such as career progression opportunities, the different challenges faced by men and women in the industry and technological advances which can help up redefine company priorities,"

said Haytham Al-Meer, Reservoir Engineering Specialist, Petroleum Engineering Department at RasGas Company and Co-Chairperson for the Young Professionals Day at the IPTC.

The theme for the fourth edition of the IPTC, the only event in the region organised and supported by all of the oil and gas industry's leading societies, is 'World Energy Challenges: Endurance and Commitment'.

His Highness Sheikh Hamad will be joined in opening the conference and exhibition by His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry for Qatar and His Excellency Mohammed Bin Dhaen Al Hamli, UAE Minister of Energy.

The IPTC, which returns to the Middle East from Kuala Lumpur in 2008, is endorsed by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC).

In addition to OPEC and OAPEC, the IPTC is endorsed by the International Association of Drilling Contractors, International Gas Union, Qatar Geological Society, Qatar Society of Engineers, and the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers.

The IPTC is hosted by Qatar Petroleum, co-hosted by Total, and supported by its sponsors ExxonMobil, Wintershall, RasGas, Shell, PETRONAS, BP, Kuwait Oil Company, Saudi Aramco, OXY, Qatar Gas, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger.