VIDEO: Young professionals in the spotlight

November 15, 2018

Offshore Energy Exhibition and Conference, held last month in Amsterdam, this year stepped up its attention to young forces and new talents in the industry.

In the closing-talk show of the event on October 24, a radio presenter Maarten Bouwhuis talked to young talents with different backgrounds about their work, their ambitions, and their motivation.

Apart from the young professionals, Jan Willem van Hoogstraten, CEO of EBN, a natural gas exploration, production, transportation, and sale company owned by the Dutch Government, and de facto patron of the YP Hub, was invited to share his views on the importance of enabling young talents to become future leaders.

Van Hoogstraten spoke about the energy transition, a topic popular in the Netherlands, reminding those listening that most of the country’s energy consumption (96 percent) still come from fossil sources and only four percent from renewables.

He stressed the importance of the energy transition for the future and also highlighted that the young forces are essential in helping to achieve it.

The EBN paraphrased the sentence attributed to Einstein whereby one cannot keep doing the same thing and expect different outcomes.

He said it was was important to give the tools to young professionals to do something about climate change.

“We need people with an open mind with out of the box thinking to do things differently, Van Hoogstraten said.

Silent piling, and Generation Y

When it comes to the young guns at the talk show, Heerema Marine Contractor’s installation engineer Marius Ottolini is taking initiative already and is working on a silent offshore pile driving tool that will not disturb the marine mammals. He won this year’s Offshore Energy Young Engineer Award, for his solution.

BoschRexroth’s Jeroen van Roosmalen, a Sales Manager for Large Cylinders, was asked whether he felt the younger generation was more innovative.

He said that Y-generation – born during the 1980s and early 1990s – is not just a letter; it also means asking more questions (Y/why?) leading to new ideas.

During the talk show Pranshu Singhal, Student Petroleum Engineering, Delft University of Technology was told he’s one of the seemingly rare to find today young people still interested in oil & gas.

He said that while this indeed might be the case, he still wanted to pursue the career there for its importance to our daily lives, for its ever-changing nature, and its dynamics.

Watch the full talk show below, to hear why a bank would want to hire a young petroleum engineer; What lessons can be transferred across the industries when it comes to large cylinders, why we people of Trinidad were happy when Ottolini’s company installed an offshore facility there; how many youngster work for EBN, why EBN will stay out of offshore wind, and how it will still have a connection to offshore wind, Why Ottolini is optimistic about getting another Offshore Energy award and much more.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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