Flash point

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(Samin Abarqoi/ITP)

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Controlled walls of fire up to 50 feet tall can be generated at the GTSC facility in Abu Dhabi's Mussafah Industrial Freezone. (Samin Abarqoi/ITP)

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In the event of a real blaze, hands-on fire-fighting experience is essential. (Samin Abarqoi/ITP)

A critical shortage of technical and safety qualified personnel has pushed off site training into overdrive.

Despite record levels of investment the global oil and gas industry has found itself at the precipice of a potentially severe stagnation, with skilled and trained manpower in unprecedented demand met by a highly constrained supply.

With rampant development all around, it's becoming harder and more expensive than ever to track down the vital raw material which cannot be mined, or its production ramped up to meet demand.

Wherever you turn in the industry, drilling engineers are in record demand, and are commanding record salary demands to match. The problem stems from a low price environment that dominated during the 1990s.

With oil prices consistently below US $25 for most of the decade, the emphasis for most oil companies was cost reduction, which led to fewer and fewer new recruits joining the industry.

Skip forward ten years and oil prices have maintained a steady rise to new heights and with it the need for manpower has thrust recruitment and training once again to the front of the agenda.

Meeting the needs of oil companies in providing a swift throughput of capable and skilled rig workers is Abu Dhabi's Gulf Technical and Safety Training Centre (GTSC).

At it's helm is corporate general manager Mario Nahas, who has overseen its multi-million dollar refurbishment and facility enhancement programme which has helped position the company as the largest stand-alone facility of its type in the region.

Specialising in the core competency fields of drilling, wireline, production testing, and workover, with the added capability to carry out fire fighting and offshore safety and survival courses, the centre has been on hand to help the major oil companies in the region meet their needs.

"GTSC is an independent training centre that focuses on technical and safety training for the upstream and downstream industry, although this is mainly dominated by upstream training at the moment and forms our core strength," explains Nahas.

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