Rigworld International Services, a Ghanaian owned offshore oil and gas services company, is set to open an $8.5 million ultramodern oil and gas training centre.
The facility, which is sited at Kejebril, near Takoradi, is expected to be commissioned is to be outdoored November 15.
Over 500 stakeholders in the sector are expected to attend the ceremony.
Officials say the Rigworld Training Center is equipped oil and gas training facility, the first of its kind in the West African sub-region, has advanced simulators for real-time training and development.
The training centre will offer a variety of safety and survival courses, including Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET), Further Offshore Emergency Training (FOET), Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) and Compressed Air Emergency Breathing System (CA-EBS).
Other courses to be offered are Well Control and Intervention Training, Banksman and Slinger, Forklift Training, Crane Operations, Rope Access Training, Health, Hose Assembly Training, as well as provision of offshore medicals, among others.
Carlos Akyeampong, General Manager of Rigworld Training Centre says:
“The need to carry out jobs safely and competently within the oil and gas industry propelled the idea for an offshore training centre. This is also in line with Petroleum Commission’s commitment to local content and participation within the industry. The establishment of Rigworld Training Centre is, therefore, part of the forward-looking and giant steps to boost local content and participation in the oil and gas sector.”
Kofi Abban, Managing Director of Rigworld International Services adds that “It was against this background that our company decided to complement government’s effort with the establishment of an international-standard oil and gas training centre to train locals for this industry.”
“As far as the oil and gas sector is concerned, every well-meaning Ghanaian who is interested in the rapid development of our country should support every effort aimed at ensuring that our own people take over the industry, instead of leaving it in the hands of foreigners, who will make the money and repatriate it to their countries to aid their development. In this regard, I want all of us in the industry to support our own, rather seeking to undermine one another. When we do that, we lose together as a country while foreigners gain,” Dr Abban stated.
Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities in 2007, and has so far seen a number of companies taking strategic interests to contribute to the sector.