CRITICAL ISSUES IN DRILLING & COMPLETIONS
Industry must fill talent gap for
both today and tomorrow as it
seeks long-term value creation
Petronas looks to school partnerships and upskilling
programs, along with automation and integrated
contracting strategies, to address key challenges
BY STEPHEN WHITFIELD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jumasri Terimo is Head of Wells
Technology and Technical Assurance at
Petronas. From your perspective at Petronas,
what do you see as the biggest near-
term challenges for the global drilling
industry? Currently, getting talents who are the
right fit for our sector is a challenge.
Learning from several years of downturns,
the human capital resources in the drill-
ing industry have generally been kept to a
minimum level.
With the sudden increase in drilling
activity we’ve seen, we have seen a need to
find the right talents. The significant gap
in the level of experience and expertise
in talents today has impacted the overall
quality of the services rendered, not only
to Petronas but to other operators, as well.
We have to see what we can do to attract
people with the right aptitude and skills to
the industry.
Can you talk about what Petronas is
doing to attract new talent?
We look at the education value chain
and have built a talent pipeline right from
universities, as well as technical and voca-
tional education centers.
We create better access for youth to
attain a quality education, especially in
the areas where we operate, by investing
in student sponsorship programs. Our sig-
nature initiative, the Petronas Education
Scholarship Program , which started in
1975, has so far benefitted more than
37,000 students.
We have designed programs that
meet industry requirements and global
standards through Universiti Teknologi
Petronas and Institut Teknologi Petroleum
Petronas . These two institutions have
proven to provide a conducive environ-
ment for the development of the next gen-
eration of talents, with state-of-the-art
facilities, relevant and certified syllabi, as
well as expert educators.
Petronas also provides various upskill-
ing programs and structured training ses-
sions to its entire workforce. For example,
in upstream, we have a program called All-
Rounded Drilling , where new graduates
are exposed to classroom and on-the-job
training sessions.
I think through efforts like these, we
have been able to position Petronas as a
desirable employer.
In 2021, Petronas announced its aspi-
ration to achieve net-zero carbon
emissions by 2050, and in 2022 you
launched a green energy subsidiary,
Gentari. How will climate-related goals
impact your investments to drill tradi-
tional oil and gas wells in the next 2-5
years? At Petronas, we intend to provide the
world with the energy it needs today, with
consideration for the climate goals of the
Paris Agreement. We recognize that each
country has its own energy access, afford-
ability and security concerns that require
a unique spectrum of solutions to address.
Jumasri Terimo, Head of Wells Tech-
nology and Technical Assurance,
Petronas With a strong integrated energy port-
folio, we are focused on delivering our
core responsibilities while transforming
to meet the energy needs of the future – in
line with our aspiration to achieve net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050.
Petronas will produce energy from its
core portfolio and cleaner energy solu-
tions as differentiated products that are
aimed to be safe, reliable, cost optimized
and emissions abated. Gentari, a n inde-
pendent entity focused on cleaner energy
solutions, will capture opportunities in
the energy transition alongside our core
portfolio through lower-carbon solutions
in three offerings – renewables, hydrogen
and green mobility. That is our long-term
goal. Still, Petronas’ production is still expect-
ed to be largely from our core areas in the
short- to mid-term period. As of 2018, 63%
of Malaysia’s energy mix consists of oil
and gas. This is a significant amount even
in the future, despite the declining per-
centage of oil and gas in Malaysia’s future
energy mix.
Given this high demand, our invest-
ments in drilling new oil and gas wells
remain a focus. We are, however, looking
to be more effective in how we operate and
reduce our emissions in the traditional
part of the business.
We are working collaboratively with our
contractors to see how they can reduce
emissions while working on our proj-
ects by optimizing our drilling days and
improving our efficiency. This translates
to lower fuel consumption while the proj-
ects are being carried out. This is in line
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