On the 11th of May the first programme module of the Fellowship on Energy Programme (FEP) hosted by N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie started with seventeen highly placed senior professionals in the field of energy from: Russia, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, France and the Netherlands. The FEP has been initiated by the European Business Congress (EBC).

The course was evaluated by the participants as an excellent programme, which offered revealing insights in the gas and oil industry. The participants were introduced to different aspects of (personal) leadership skills as well. Current energy leaders, such as Marcel Kramer (CEO N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie), Jürgen Möpert (EBC Board Member) and Gertjan Lankhorst (CEO GasTerra) were present during this first module in Groningen . This offered the participants the opportunity to exchange their thoughts and ideas on the future energy industry with the EBC members.

The European Business Congress (EBC) stands under the presidency of Mr Alexei Miller, CEO of OAO Gazprom. EBC focuses on energy supply as one of the major challenges facing Europe . The stock of fossil fuels is finite, and global warming threatens our environment. Security of supply and demand are needed to guarantee energy provision and related investment. Conflicts concerning gas supplies, highlight the importance of stable and lasting solutions and partnership. These issues call for new solutions and also new forms of leadership. This inspired the Energy Business Congress to organise its Fellowship on Energy Programme (FEP) that started this week.

Aim of the FEP is to prepare future leaders of the energy sector for the major transitions in the European energy business, a.o. through various intensive courses, and to enhance cooperation in the energy sector.

The FEP courses, subsequently held in Groningen , Moscow and Berlin , offer a unique learning opportunity for the future energy sector leaders to look at the rules of the European energy game from different perspectives. During the courses the new generation of leaders will be able to discuss their views on the challenges of the energy sector together with the current leaders. The programme focuses on: current and future energy markets and policies in Europe , differences in skills and cultures in various European regions, and leadership skills.

The FEP is coordinated by the Energy Delta Institute in Groningen (www.energydelta.com) and the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin (www.esmt.org).

For more information, please contact Mrs Wietske Schober MA, project manager at Energy Delta Institute. Tel. +31 50 524 83 13, or email: schober@energydelta.nl.

About Energy Delta Institute
EDI is an international business school on energy; a cooperation of N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie, GasTerra b.v., Russian OAO Gazprom, the University of Groningen , Shell and RWE (Electrabel, Essent, DONG Energy and EBN are associated partners). EDI's main goal is to contribute to educating the current and future energy managers; it offers three executive master programmes on Energy. EDI coordinates a variety of knowledge and training projects and organises in-company training programmes. The programme focus generally is on economic, legal, managerial and geopolitical aspects of the energy value chain. EDI closely cooperates with its business and academic partners. Since its founding in 2002, EDI has trained over 1300 participants from more than 38 countries.

About EBC
The European Business Congress e. V. (EBC) aims at enhancing the cooperation within the OSCE area. To this end, over the last decade the EBC has been providing platform for the numerous fora for the top management of its member-companies.

The EBC has seven working committees which address economy and, in particular, Energy Sector topics. One of these working committees is the working committee for Human Resources, Education and Sciences (HRES). The HRES committee initiated an EBC project proposal to start the Fellowship on Energy Programme, where a new generation of leaders could be prepared to meet the future challenges of the energy sector in Europe.