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Shell will hire an additional 600 researchers and engineers in its Bangalore technology centre and move to a new 40-acre campus in Devanahalli on the outskirts of the city by 2015. The $470-billion oil and gas company established the tech centre in 2006 and it currently has 900 R&D staff split across two leased facilities.
The centre is one of only three such in the world. The others are in Amsterdam in Netherlands and Houston in the US, each with about 1,200 researchers. Given the Bangalore growth plans, the centre here could become Shell's biggest in three years. Matthias Bichsel, director of projects and technology in Royal Dutch Shell, who was in Bangalore for the laying of the foundation stone of the new campus, said the Bangalore centre was Shell's lead centre for bitumen research , creating different kinds of asphalt applications for roads. It is a major centre of computational science, which involves gathering massive amounts of data generated to construct mathematical and software models to analyse and solve problems.
The centre is one of only three such in the world. The others are in Amsterdam in Netherlands and Houston in the US, each with about 1,200 researchers. Given the Bangalore growth plans, the centre here could become Shell's biggest in three years. Matthias Bichsel, director of projects and technology in Royal Dutch Shell, who was in Bangalore for the laying of the foundation stone of the new campus, said the Bangalore centre was Shell's lead centre for bitumen research , creating different kinds of asphalt applications for roads. It is a major centre of computational science, which involves gathering massive amounts of data generated to construct mathematical and software models to analyse and solve problems.
"The centre is modeling, for instance, the surface of our giant oil field in Majnoon in Iraq. It will tell us where to drill the wells, where to locate what," Bichsel said. The Bangalore centre leads Shell's water technology group, which develops solutions to reduce water in the energy discovery and development process. A lot of water currently is used to crack open rocks, to cool refineries and to maintain pressure in reservoirs. In India, Shell is involved in multiple businesses. It manufactures branded lubricants, has two bitumen plants, is the major investor in the Hazira LNG re-gasification terminal, and operates 60 gas stations. Yasmine Ghandhi Hilton, who took over from Vikram Mehta as Shell India chairman in October, said the company had the license to operate 2,000 gas stations, but the absence of a"level playing field" vis-a-vis the public sector oil companies was holding back expansion. "It (the diesel subsidy) is politically challenging for the government, but it will happen over time," she said, and indicated that it may happen once Aadhar makes subsidy-targeting possible.
Source: The Economic Times
Source: The Economic Times
Published date : 09 Nov 2012 06:06PM
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