333 Emiratis Graduate from ADNOC’s Advanced Drilling Training Centre
Abu Dhabi, UAE – April 9, 2018: ADNOC Drilling, an Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) subsidiary celebrated, today, the graduation of 333 Emiratis from its Drilling Training Center, as ADNOC evolves to seize the opportunities created by the technology transformation taking place in the oil and gas industry.
Today’s graduates are the latest batch to have completed their training at the state-of-the-art center. They will play a key role in ensuring efficient, reliable and safe onshore and offshore well-drilling operations, as ADNOC creates a world class drilling workforce, critical to enabling its objective of increasing oil production capacity.
The graduation ceremony, held at ADNOC Drilling’s Bida’a Al Oshaneh Base, in Al Dhafra Region, was attended by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO. He said this graduation, which takes the total number of graduates from the Drilling Training Center to 1,000 UAE Nationals, was a proud landmark which underscored ADNOC’s commitment to invest in the development of young people, to enable them to seize the opportunities offered by digitisation in drilling and across the company’s operations.
“ADNOC’s training programs aim to provide ADNOC with the technologically skilled workforce we will require to effectively deliver our 2030 smart growth strategy and to ensure we will continue to lead, thrive, and compete in the future,” H.E. Dr Al Jaber said. “Efficient and safe drilling operations are critical in delivering ADNOC’s target to reduce well duration by 30 per cent, by the end of 2019, and will help ensure we remain resilient in a changing energy environment as we optimize production costs and create greater returns from our upstream assets and resources.
“In parallel with the delivery of our strategic objectives, ADNOC is committed to playing its part in a sustainable and prosperous future for the nation, in line with the leadership’s directives, by providing skilled employment opportunities, for nationals, that contribute to the development of the country’s broader knowledge economy.”
The Drilling Training Center is unique in the region. With its world-class facilities and experienced instructors, it offers industry-specific training programs and customized courses that address the latest in industry thinking and operations. Using high-tech equipment, and advanced training techniques and methods, the center prepares ADNOC’s Emirati employees to operate state-of-the-art rigs, while maintaining the highest levels of HSE and asset integrity. The center’s drilling rig simulation system helps familiarize trainees with the well-control operations of a rig, and introduces them to the work environment in the drilling locations.
In the last 12 months, the Drilling Training Center has received a number of important endorsements from prominent organisations in the United States, providing graduates with internationally accredited qualifications.
Established in 1972 as the National Drilling Company, ADNOC Drilling is one of the largest drilling contractors in the Middle East. Since 2010, when it had 28 rigs, it has expanded its operations three-fold, in response to customer demand, with 94 rigs in its fleet. Since Rig ND-1 began work in 1973, NDC’s drilling fleet has drilled over 7,700 wells.
