atlas interactive | news

Updated 5th April 2006

Atlas Interactive and ASET pioneer process technician e-learning programme to give offshore workers qualifications

Oil industry worldwide will benefit from UK-developed qualifications and standards

Atlas Interactive, the oil and gas industry e-learning specialist headquartered in Aberdeen has developed, in partnership with Aberdeen Skills and Enterprise Training (ASET), a range of upstream process operations and technology courses that have been approved as appropriate for use by oil industry technicians, and which will set the standard for technicians worldwide.

The courses, developed by Atlas Interactive and ASET, have been accredited by OPITO, the UK sector skills council that serves the oil and gas and other industries; certification will come from City & Guilds, the UK’s leading provider of vocational qualifications. The courses will apply to workers in the upstream and downstream industry, offshore, onshore, in refineries and in the petrochemical industry.

‘With ASET, we identified a lack of formal online process training for technicians in the oil and gas industry,’ says Atlas Interactive VP of Sales and Marketing, Tim Love, ‘and we have worked closely together over the past two years to develop this suite of learning modules for technicians of all ages within the industry.

‘Aimed at addressing the skills shortages within the oil industry, these learning modules will enable both new recruits and experienced technicians to acquire approved qualifications, and it will assist employers to assess the skills and capabilities of their workforce within an accepted accreditation system.’

The well-recognised shortage of new recruits is being addressed by several initiatives of the UK oil industry, and there is also a need to ensure that the skills and experience of older technicians is passed on to the next generation of technicians.

‘This learning programme represents a major step forward for the future of technical learning within the oil and gas industry,’ says Tim Love. ‘Around 20% of a typical oil company’s workforce comprises offshore and onshore technicians. They are an invaluable section of the industry and many have no formal qualifications. We know that over 50% of the experienced knowledge base in the UK oil industry will retire in the next 10 years, so it is essential that oil industry companies capture that knowledge and pass it on to the next generation of workers. This technician training programme will facilitate and fast-track that process.’

Graham Beattie, ASET’s general manager, said, ‘The Atlas Interactive/ASET Process Operations and Technology for the Oil & Gas Industry e-learning courses bring the advantages of a new learning format to a market where proven competence and certification are paramount. As well as being convenient for the delegate, e-learning offers a low-cost and highly effective training solution to companies. Travel, subsistence, accommodation and time away from work costs are minimised. Successful results are maximised through ease of use, ease of assessment and the use of packages that have been developed and tailored to meet specific oil and gas industry needs.’

Jim McCartney, product manager for process and manufacturing industries at City & Guilds, said, ‘The Atlas Interactive/ASET technician training courses meet a great need in the UK oil industry, and we know they will also become invaluable elsewhere in the world.

‘Online learning is certainly the way ahead, especially for a dispersed work force, like those in the oil and gas industry. Working in collaboration with Atlas we are delighted to be delivering a superb new qualifications infrastructure to the UK oil and gas industry and are proud to be part of this excellent initiative.’

City & Guilds’ mission is to raise the competence of individuals to give a benchmark; with these new courses workers from Aberdeen to Australia will achieve qualifications – sometimes the first they have ever achieved - and the courses will stand as a quality benchmark in the global oil industry.

Workers can study at their own pace in their own time or at work, to gain qualifications.

‘City & Guilds qualifications are recognised globally,’ said Jim McCartney, ‘and this e-learning programme complements the technical courses we already have in place. It will greatly speed up the acquisition of qualifications by the oil and gas workforce and will provide a foundation for the offshore workforce.

‘A significant proportion of offshore oil industry managers have worked their way up the career ladder from technician to supervisor to manager, and are without formal qualifications. They can now formalise their skills and experience and get an official qualification, and this will even allow candidates to go on to degree level and beyond if they wish.’

Many companies in the oil and gas industry worldwide routinely train their workforce using Atlas Interactive’s e-Learning programmes. Over 175,000 employees per year are currently benefiting in more than 26 countries, in 8 languages, from Atlas e-Learning courses.

‘There is not only a UK shortage of qualified individuals entering the oil industry – there is a worldwide gap in technician training and standards,’ says Tim Love. ‘We are now in discussion with major oil companies around the world to implement this training – in the Middle East, for example, we reckon there are over 100,000 technicians who will benefit from these courses, but at the moment we are focussing on the European market place, with the North Sea our key target.’

‘The process training units have been developed to provide the major part of the underpinning knowledge for trainees working toward a vocational qualification in upstream process operations,’ says Graham Beattie, general manager at ASET. ‘The knowledge for a process technical certificate for Level 2 S/NVQ can be obtained by the trainee working on the PC and the knowledge requirements for a technical certificate for Level 3 S/NVQ, marked by an examiner, can also be obtained; this will ensure that we have qualified technicians at common standards, resulting in a known standard that can be applied the world over for oil and gas workers.

‘It can help recruits from other industries get up to speed in the oil sector, and it can speed up the induction process for young entrants to the oil and gas industry.’

OPITO petroleum open learning development manager, Richard Bain, believes the e-learning programme is an invaluable tool for the oil industry.

‘There are real technical training needs out there in the major oil companies,’ he said, ‘and this e-learning programme will make a big difference. It will be a useful tool to help close the skills gap in the oil industry as well as improving the skills of workers from other industries.

‘This project is a superb example of co-operation across the industry and with important external groups like City & Guilds and ASET. OPITO believes that co-operation is key to solving the skills gaps and our remit is to support excellent initiatives like this one.’

	Canadian Natural Resources International (CNRI) has awarded e-Learning specialist Atlas Interactive with a contract to create six interactive safety inductions for its assets in the UK North Sea.

The inductions will cover offshore workers travelling to Ninian North, Ninian South, Ninian Central, Murchison, Tiffany and Balmoral and will have a common component covering core safety information in addition to site-specific information relating to each specific installation.

The Inductions will be delivered on DVD format and will contain a rich variety of multi-media techniques to deliver vital safety concepts. CNRI has also extended its contract with Atlas Interactive to provide facilitated learning on Permit to Work and Induction in the Atlas e-Learning Centre in Aberdeen. Currently some 2,000 CNRI personnel pass through this centre on an annual basis.

	Atlas Interactive has won its first contract in Thailand with state oil company PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Ltd. The scope of this arrangement covers the provision of 20 safety e-Learning courses, which will be run from PTTEP’s two learning centres in Southern Thailand.

Subjects covered include mandatory safety areas such as Permit to Work, Mechanical and Electrical Isolations, Confined Space Entry and Gas Testing as well as many safety awareness subjects such as Manual Handling, H2S, Mercury, Noise and Hazard Awareness amongst others. Learner results will be tracked and recorded using the Atlas Interactive Learning Management System, which is now in use with some 30 operating companies worldwide. The courses will be used to train technicians visiting the offshore Bongkot field.

KBR has engaged Atlas Interactive to assist with their graduate Development Scheme. Atlas Interactive courses are being piloted to deliver learning on 40 different subject areas, including Process Science, Produced Water, Gas Compression and Gas Treatment, Oil and Gas Metering, NGL and LNG and LSA/NORM Awareness. The modules will be completed over the course of one year as part of KBR’s staff development program to give new employees a broad overview of the oil and gas industry.

Atlas Interactive has further increased the library of generic courses now available in foreign languages following the completion of a project for Subsea7, which required seven courses – COSHH Awareness, Manual Handling Awareness, Task Risk Assessment, Environmental Awareness, PUWER, Permit to Work and Lift Planning – to be translated into Brazilian Portuguese. These courses are being deployed on a number of Subsea7’s vessels working off the coast of Brazil and will assist in training local Brazilian technicians in key safety subjects.

SonaHess have also commissioned Atlas Interactive to develop e-Learning courses in French for their Gassi El Agred redevelopment project in Algeria. These courses complement the existing range of Upstream Process courses already in use with this asset.

Furthermore, eight of Atlas Interactive’s Process Operations and Technology range – covering Separation, Gas Compression, P&ID, Produced Water, Water Injection, Gas Treatment, Metering and Pigging Systems and Oil and Gas Extraction have been translated into Spanish to support BP’s operations in Venezuela. These courses will be used by 140 BP technicians to learn about the fundamentals of oil and gas processing.

Atlas Interactive continues to build on highly successful relationships with major operators in Qatar with two new projects in this region. RASGAS has awarded Atlas Interactive with a contract to deliver Risk Assessment training to their technicians operating within their LNG plant and offshore, building on the existing programme already being delivered for Authorised Gas Testing (AGT) training. These agreements are for three years’ duration and build on the success during the past three years of the AGT training delivered by Atlas.

Occidental Petroleum of Qatar has also commissioned Atlas Interactive to develop a new vessel HES DVD for their offshore operations on PS1 and Halul Island, building upon a long-term relationship with Occidental in this region.

Atlas’ operations in Qatar continue to be supported by our partners QISC (Qatar International Safety Centre) who provide local business development support and also operate the facilitated e-Learning Centre in Qatar. This centre delivers mentored learning in a number of key safety subjects to the operating companies in Qatar.

Atlas Interactive is pleased to be participating at the GetEnergy event in Dubai on 27th to 29th March 2006 where we will be demonstrating a number of new courses covering safety, upstream process and chemical process subjects. We will be delighted to see many of our long-term customers at this event and look forward to having the opportunity to present our capabilities to many new companies involved in the oil and gas business.

We look forward to seeing you all at BOOTH 47.

Business continues to grow for Atlas Interactive in Malaysia where Talisman Malaysia have extended their arrangement with Atlas Interactive for Permit to Work training to cover additional learners following a highly successful pilot implementation. Talisman Malaysia already use a number of safety e-Learning courses from Atlas to train their technicians operating on offshore Malaysia.

Trenergy have also commissioned Atlas to provide e-Learning courses on Task Risk Assessment and Permit to Work for their vessels operating in Malaysian waters and state oil company Petronas’ subsidiaries PPTSB and MLNG have increased the scope of a number of the safety courses currently being used.

Engineering, technology and construction specialists Technip have selected Atlas Interactive to develop a number of safety-related e-Learning courses as part of a multi-year agreement. These courses will be deployed across multiple vessels and the initial selection of courses includes Permit to Work, Environmental Awareness and Lifting Operations.

Technip will deploy Atlas courses on CD-ROM and via the Internet and will provide Technip with a CD library and administration service to ensure that all learner records from the various vessels are compiled and managed accurately.

BP Awards Global Agreement to Atlas Interactive

Petronas e-Learning Solutions Selects Atlas Interactive

Petronas e-Learning Solutions Sdn Bhd – a subsidiary of the Malaysian state-owned Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Company PETRONAS - has awarded Atlas Interactive with a contract to develop a large range of e-Learning courses to integrate into the training and development curriculum for the Surface Engineering Group. Engineering disciplines covered by the new courses include Process, Electrical, Mechanical, Structural, Pipeline, Materials and Instrumentation.

This year-long project will create more than 100 hours of additional e-Learning courses for use within the Surface Engineering Department.

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Atlas Interactive Collaborates with LSC and NEPIC in the North East

Atlas Interactive has recently launched a range of e-Learning modules designed to meet the requirements of technicians working in the Chemical Industry. This project – sponsored by the UK Learning and Skills Council and supported by the North East Process Industries Cluster (NEPIC), City and Guilds and COGENT (Sector Skills Council for the Chemical Industry) – will deliver underpinning knowledge to new employees entering into the Chemical Industry as well as offering a Level 3 National Vocational Qualification upon successful completion to existing workers in the industry who lack formal qualifications. The courses also have the flexibility to enable training managers from the various Chemical companies to add their own plant-specific materials to the generic content.

Subjects covered include Process Chemistry, Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Process Control and Fault Diagnosis, Compressors and Compression Technology and Distillation, with each course having a duration of 3-5 hours.

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