Papua New Guineans will now be able to get world class training to work in the oil and gas industry on home soil.
Kumul Petroleum Holdings on behalf of the National Government has entered into a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with South Pacific Employment Institute (SPEI) to run the world-class state-of-the-art training facility at Idubada near Port Moresby.
The training institute will be called Kumul Petroleum Academy and will be the first in the Pacific Islands region.
Higher Education Minister Malakai Tabar said the Live Plant Training Facility (LPTF) will become the premier training hub for the PNG energy and resources sector workers.
Kumul Petroleum Holdings managing director Wapu Sonk said from the experience of shortage of skilled labour faced during the construction phase of the first LNG project, the academy would change it.
“The government notes the concern of capacity gap for nationals to fill technical and operational jobs required for the energy sector, therefore, during the PNG LNG construction phase a lot of international labour was mobilized.
“With the establishment of the Kumul Petroleum Academy, PNG will produce and supply an internationally certified and accredited workforce,” Sonk said.
The LPTF at the academy will replicate a full size processing plant with real live process systems, centralized control room, emergency protection systems and electrical distribution centre, to provide a real life scenario training and assessment facility in a safe and controlled environment.
Caption: File picture of the first LNG project jetty where ships berth to load LNG to send to overseas markets.