India is planning for its first state-of-the art academic-industry collaboration in Oil and Gas. India’s seven blue-chip oil firms have signed an agreement with IIT-Bombay to set up a Centre of Excellence in Oil, Gas and Energy.

“The centre of excellence will collaborate to research and explore new frontiers of technology to improve quality, productivity and efficiency in the energy sector,” Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at the MoU signing.

“With changing nature of jobs as old jobs are becoming obsolete, new job roles are replacing the existing work profiles. We are on the verge of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (fourth industrial revolution) bringing blockchain, big data analytics into play. IR 5.0 may allow us customized manufacturing capabilities,” he said. He said that there is a need to put academic research in the entrepreneurial mode so that results are effective.

“India is a large energy market and effort should be made to develop our own petroleum standards.” The MoU was signed by heads of Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), GAIL India Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), Oil India Ltd and Engineers India Ltd.

The centre of excellence is aimed at collaborative research and capability building in the areas of oil, gas, and energy. It will work towards developing sustainable solutions and explore new frontiers in technology for future energy needs.