Abstract
Advanced employee education represents the backbone of current competence management programs across the oil and gas industry while the demand for more efficient training programs is increasing over time. The employee education task becomes more difficult when the incorporation of hands-on training is essential. This document is to share the experiences gained by an oilfield service company in the successful development and deployment of different scenarios and delivery methods that let students practice downhole tools installations in a controlled environment using a fully operational rig.
Previous approaches to downhole tools training used slideshow presentations, tools schematics and tear-down simulations to explain the proper function of a tool. These techniques helped students understand how the tool mechanisms interacted and how the tool functioned. However, they were not very successful in helping students fully comprehend the operating procedure and associated key indicators in a rig environment. Special training assemblies were designed to simulate various downhole conditions and enable the students to execute the operation on a real rig.
Implementing these simulated scenarios in multiple product line training sessions helped the students move closer to full competence on individual qualifications. Depending on the specific task, students were required to complete additional "on-the-job" (OJT) tasks in the field under supervision of a qualified employee. Students also gained a full understanding of the tool behavior, allowing them to work with minimal supervision in real-life situations. Applying this methodology in the areas of completion and wellbore intervention operations has been particularly successful. Pipe manipulation and pressure application during the device activation is imperative, and is one of the most difficult tasks to explain without using simulated scenarios. Observed results in personnel with no previous experience in the areas of specific training have been also positive. The incorporation of a real rig and deployment of downhole devices helped these individuals understand the operation and processes associated with a rig-specific deployment or tool installation. This additional training has helped them to develop their work in other areas or product segments within the organization such as quality and reliability, finance, human resources, HSE, etc.
The service company consolidation of global product segment training into two primary locations enabled the interaction, optimization and standardization of existing programs and facilitated cross-product line knowledge sharing of common practices that used to be learned separately. The explanations of training scenarios shown in this document would help in the creation and development of training programs across the oil and gas industry.
