On 17 August 2016, the AAPG Young Professionals chapter in Kuala Lumpur organized a technical talk entitled
“The Art and Science of Exploration – Skills required to be a Complete Explorationist”. We are grateful to have the speaker Mr Balakrishnan Kunjan from Melbourne Cue Energy to volunteer part of his vacation time in KL to give a technical talk for AAPG YP KL chapter.
The response was extremely good, with 18 participants (5 university students and 13 young professionals from 8 oil companies) attending the talk. The event was held at the PETRONAS office, Level 14, KLCC Tower 2. Before the talk started at 6.15pm, a brief introduction of the main mission of AAPG KL YP chapter was given and mention was made that AAPG KL YP chapter will host monthly events and all participants were strongly encouraged to attend and network.
Mr Bala Kunjan commenced by acknowledging the fact that the oil and gas industry is going through a tough time and it's affecting all the young professionals and university students. He explained the technology needs and skills required to be a complete explorationist for the industry. Most importantly, he addressed the gap in age group for fulfilling the future jobs once the baby boomers retire; and strongly urged the young professionals to step up to fill in their shoes by learning the ropes quickly.
The talk was very interesting. Mr Bala went through various case studies in different countries that he had actually worked on. He explained how hard work and determination is important to stay vital and integrating quality geosciences work in the industry. He also encouraged and motivated the audience to not give up and try their best to stay in the industry when oil prices pick up in future. He ended his talk with a fantastic poem describing his great passion for geology.
The Q&A session drew much enthusiasm for 20 minutes; all sorts of questions were asked pertaining to his talk. He stayed on to answer questions from each and everyone. It was an excellent turnout by the students and young professionals for the 7th consecutive talk held in Kuala Lumpur this year.