Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Sherif Ismail witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Oil & Gas Skills (OGS) company and Schlumberger for the establishment of a joint oil industry Training Institute.
The minister clarified that the establishment of the institute came in lieu of efforts by the oil sector to develop the capacity of workers and upgrade their skills through intensive training and the exchange of experiences. He stressed that investing in people was an investment for both the present and the future, and that trained manpower is what Egypt needs to regain its position regionally and globally in this phase of construction and takeoff.
For his part, OGS Chairman Ahmed Ashmawy pointed out that the signing of the MoU comes within a traditional win-win framework where both sides benefit from the expertise and technologies found locally, regionally and globally, whilst also implementing the Schlumberger initiative to revive its Training Institute in the Amiriya area in Alexandria. Previously this institute was for training Schlumberger employees only, he added. Now the institute would be jointly managed and concerned with training recently graduated petroleum engineers and oil sector workers to meet global industry standards. This will be in such areas as the properties of petroleum reservoirs, industry drilling and production, the preparation of technicians and workers and conducting integrated studies that serve exploration, production and manufacturing.
The MoU also intends to expand the regional scope of the institute to include the African Petroleum Institute, for the moment, and OAPEC in the future, along with the support provided by Schlumberger for OGS training activities in Basra. There was also the establishment of a new branch in Abu Dhabi to take advantage of the Schlumberger training institute there.
He added that OGS was the first Egyptian state-owned company to specialize in training and human resources development and served most areas in oil and gas, petrochemicals and leadership and management programs. His company was also upgrading the skills of the existing labor force through short and long-term training programs in coordination with major international actors with long experience in serving the current and future needs of the industry. His company was also trying to strengthen the practical applications and research side of Egypt’s petroleum sector to bridge the gap between theoretical study and the practical requirements of the industry.
