Prior to the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling disaster, training for offshore employment was essentially left to each Driller and Operator to establish minimum requirements for each job.  The result was inconsistent job titles and training requirements between companies such that employee movement between companies led to confusion regarding qualifications and seniority.  As shown in the left column herein, the Department of the Interior has begun an effort to standardize training, job titles, position descriptions, and minimum qualifications.  USA is uniquely qualified to provide the needed standardization to training so that each job can have minimum demonstrated competency requirements associated with it.  We are equally qualified to extend our training program to both land-based and offshore drilling operations; to both drilling and production operations; and to both commercial and government personnel.

USA has  been providing training for NASA personnel dating back to the Apollo Lunar Missions in the late 1960s.  This training has included flight crews, flight controllers, engineers, and administrative positions within NASA.  Beginning in 2003, USA personnel extended this training into the oil and gas industry by developing and providing training for EXXON MOBIL to support their ex-patriot personnel and local Nigerian/Angola/Chad personnel in preparation for drilling  operations in these countrys.  Since that time, USA has progressively increased its training capabilities in both upstream and downstream training regimes. 

The USA approach to development and instructional support to oil and gas companies includes:

• Establishing curriculum and minimum competency requirements for each type of job found on the offshore unit (e.g. Drilling Systems, Well Control, Mud Systems, Auxiliary Systems, etc.)
• Providing capability assessment for personnel to establish their entry point into the training program (i.e. Basic Systems, Intermediate Competency Level, Advanced Competency Level, etc)
• Imposing standard training requirements on personnel based on capability assessment
• Including unique company requirements in training curriculum
• Developing and conducting 3rd Party training in systems operations and maintenance requirements
• Conducting post-training competency evaluations to determine demonstrated competency level
• Providing training competency information to support Drilling Permit Aplications and other required regulatory information

USA personnel have  provided training to major Driller and Operator companies, including U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) personnel.  We continue to provide new employee training and certification programs to several of these companies.

Let us examine your training needs, at no cost, and provide an analysis of your specific needs. We will determine how we may assist you in improving your training competency.  By utilizing our capability, precious internal company engineering and management resources can be applied to the job of systems support rather than developing and conducting training from within company resources.

“The Department will immediately establish a workgroup to investigate safety training requirements for floating drilling rig personnel and possible requirements for independent or more frequent  certification and testing requirements of personnel and safety systems.”