INSIDE BUSINESS: CALL FOR SINGLE STANDARD FOR OIL RIGS

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The executive leadership National Energy Skills Centre is calling for more focus on specific certification for those working in the local hydrocarbon drilling business.  The Energy Minister says safety in the oil and gas business is the priority.  We have more in our Inside Business segment.

Transcript

00:00Before Energy Minister Stuart Young delivered a speech during his visit to the Drilling

00:17Academy at the National Energy Skills Centre or NESC Technical Institute in St. Madeleine,

00:23he listened to the speeches delivered by its executive leadership.

00:27A campus manager of the NESC said the centre's pursuit of quality is about the education

00:34it provides.

00:35So we are ISO 21001 certified, previously we were ISO 9001 which is basically quality

00:42management systems, but we took the bold step to go into 21001 because it was specifically

00:47against our educational management system.

00:51So we were one of the very first people, institutions in the country, to try to achieve this.

00:56He spoke about the importance of certification and use abroad to work on drilling rigs such

01:00as oil rigs, as he made reference to the Point Desas Industrial Estate, where plants that

01:05produce downstream natural gas products such as ammonia and methanol are located.

01:11What plea is to the Point Desas Industrial Estate, rig pass is a minimum C3 credential

01:17that is required to work on different rigs in different parts of the world.

01:19Before you work on any rig, you have to go and get your rig pass.

01:23The first group of students here would have brought in somebody to do a rig pass accreditation

01:28with them, certification with them.

01:29But as we progressed, we would have actually applied for rig pass so we could actually

01:34conduct rig pass and we have certified instructors here.

01:38While drilling for oil and natural gas can be a financially lucrative business, it is

01:43one that is not without potential danger.

01:46So the plan is through the School of Continuing Education that we want to push that into energy

01:52in Trinidad, especially in the drilling industry, because we want to make sure that safety is

01:56the number one priority.

01:57And we want to make sure that everybody has the basic minimum requirements for safety

02:03in the industry.

02:04And while plea is important and plea is very relevant in certain instances, we believe

02:08that the rig pass is more applicable to the drilling industry.

02:12The president of the NESC supported a statement about the rig pass that was made by the campus

02:18manager.

02:19I think we need to administer, and I don't know if this is something in the ministry

02:22itself could happen, you know, Said spoke about this, the rig pass.

02:27We need to have some sort of standard minimum qualifications, I'm thinking, that anybody

02:33stepping foot on a rig should be.

02:36Just like he mentioned the plea passport to Point Lisa's area.

02:41You know, that might be something that we could massage or because, I mean, all insurance

02:46companies now, everything is now about certification.

02:51The energy minister acknowledged the concern.

02:53Because I've been pushing the local industry to do more drilling.

02:59And they now, for a while, have graduates like yourself with the certification.

03:04And I agree with the president.

03:06We have to press for the safety standards.

03:09It was interesting, the first lady that came up here to give the safety briefing started

03:13off with safety as a priority.

03:15The first video safety in the oil and gas industry, safety is literally the priority.

03:22And certification is an important role to play in that.

03:25I'm Jule Brown for tonight's Inside Business.

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