ADNOC poised to boost oil production capacity as 333 graduates exit drilling training center

Drilling contractor ADNOC Drilling, an ADNOC subsidiary, on Monday marked 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, the latest batch to have completed their training at the center, will play a key role in ensuring efficient, reliable and safe onshore and offshore well-drilling operations, as ADNOC creates a drilling workforce critical to enabling its objective of increasing oil production capacity, ADNOC said on Monday.

The graduation ceremony, held at ADNOC Drilling’s Bida’a Al Oshaneh Base, in Al Dhafra Region, was attended by Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO.

He said: “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,” 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.”

According to ADNOC, the Drilling Training Center with its facilities and instructors 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 the rigs, while maintaining the highest levels of HSE and asset integrity. ADNOC said that 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.

Since 2010, when it had 28 rigs, ADNOC Drilling has expanded its operations three-fold, with 94 rigs in its fleet. NDC’s drilling fleet has drilled over 7,700 wells.