Aberdeen (Scotland) : Robert Gordon University (RGU) has today launched a new set of online short courses to help professional development and address skills needs within the oil and gas industry.
The courses, the first of which focuses on decommissioning and is available now, have been tailored to appeal to differing competency levels and are aimed at those with little or no knowledge of the topic, to high level industry professionals looking to develop their skill-set.
Each topic will come with a fundamentals course, typically taking two to three hours to complete, and an in-depth course, which will take longer – between two and four days to complete.
The first course in the new suite is ‘Planning for Decommissioning: Fundamentals’. It has been prepared by industry experts and uses a roadmap, which guides participants though the stages of work from late life, cessation of production, removal and finally to dismantling and disposal.
One of the key benefits of this initial course is a description of the legislative processes. The course has been developed in collaboration with the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Health and Safety Executive.
Participants can explore the material in different ways and it includes an interactive module to demonstrate the activities that need to take place at different times through the decommissioning process as well as an assessment, which will lead to the award of an RGU Certificate on completion.
Paul de Leeuw, director of RGU’s Oil and Gas Institute, commented: “Our goal is to provide easily accessible online short courses that will enhance the skills of an individual as well as organisations.
“We have worked very closely with industry partners to establish the key areas for additional skills training. A second ‘Planning for Decommissioning: In-depth’ course will be available in the next few months and will provide detailed insights on decommissioning activities.”
Further courses in deepwater drilling and oilfield chemistry are currently under development and will be available as short courses later in 2017.
Neil Edward, senior decommissioning engineer at the OGA, said: “Decommissioning represents a major industrial challenge which can create global competitive advantage for the UK.
“To enable a safe, environmentally sound and cost effective decommissioning sector, our current and future workforce must be equipped with the right skills, knowledge and experience. These courses represent a concerted effort from industry, academia and the regulatory bodies to ensure this happens.”
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