Shell and ADNOC celebrate UAE Drilling Excellence graduates

Abu Dhabi, UAE - 25 June 2014 - Shell and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) held a celebration at Jumeirah Etihad Towers hotel in Abu Dhabi on June 18th to recognize students who recently graduated from Shell’s globally accredited Rounds 1 and 2 Drilling Excellence programme. The event was held under the auspices of Mr Mohamed Butti Al Qubaisi, Exploration and Production Director at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC).

The foundation of Drilling Excellence is the Shell learning programme, which has been running for 40 years, and targets well engineers during their formative years with specific focus on knowledge and skills required to perform adequately in their first operational assignment as a drilling engineer, completion engineer or drilling supervisor. The programme is divided into two phases, with the first focusing on acquiring basic well engineering skills and tests candidates on their ability to complete their work under pressure, while Round 2 teaches well design and technical integrity assurance aspects of the drilling process.

Shell oil and gas well engineers are deployed across the globe in support of exploration, appraisal and development of drilling activities. The delivery model for this global group of professionals is Drilling Excellence and Shell Wells have been independently ranked in the top 25% for several years running. Round 1 and 2 certificate holders are highly regarded in the industry because of their solid competence base.

Speaking on the occasion, Andrew Vaughan, Shell Vice-President for Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Country Chair said “By developing the skills and talents of students from the Emirates and building on their journey to becoming future energy experts in the country, this programme is a testament to Shell’s commitment to the UAE and to the Abu Dhabi vision 2030.”

Drilling Excellence is also an aspiration of the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO). This is why ADCO has developed a partnership with Shell to offer Round 1 and 2 training to their well engineers. So far thirty seven young UAE graduates from ADCO and the National Drilling Company (NDC) have been certified with Round 1, while six have passed Round 2 since 2011.

This year’s graduates include twelve fresh Round 1 graduates, of which ten are from ADCO and two from NDC, and four new Round 2 graduates, all from ADCO. Certificates were handed out by Mr Abdul Munim Al Kindy, Chief Executive Officer of ADCO, who has been actively supporting the programme since its inception. Most former students were present to welcome the new graduates into the alumni group, which has been actively promoting the programme and mentoring new candidates.
 
The Round 1 training programme is currently being broadened to the whole ADNOC group companies with three Zakum Development Company (ZADCO) engineers, two Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) engineers and one Al Hosn engineer already enrolled in the curriculum.