Aberdeen Drilling School to open four new training centres

Aberdeen Drilling School (ADS) is inventing more than £1 million to open four new training centres in RelyOn Nutec facilities by the end of the year.

The move comes after a fifty percent increase in contract wins in the past six months, said ADS, which is part of the RelyOn Nutec group. The new centres are in Houston, U.S., Cuidad del Carmen in Mexico and Bergen and Stavanger in Norway.

The ADS team will operate them independently and deliver the "most advanced simulator-based training currently available on the drilling market."

Expanding the services to four new locations will require ADS to hire five new bilingual instructors. It will also double the technical workforce in the coming six months with new instructors, simulator operators and software developers.  The firm currently has a team of 20 based at its Aberdeen facility in Union Glen and 50 staff worldwide.

"This is really only the start for us," said Managing director of Aberdeen Drilling School, Jason Grant. "With access to the RelyOn Nutec network of over 30 training centres in 20 countries, we have a great platform for further expansion."

Aberdeen Drilling School

The training firm’s existing portfolio includes facilities in Aberdeen, Malaysia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the Netherlands.

Grant said that West Africa will be a key region for the company in the near future.

"We are currently working with our partners and clients throughout West Africa to consider where the best and most accessible location would be. Our goal is to ensure clients have access to the same world-class training wherever their drilling operations are."

The announcement follows the firm’s recent acquisition of Norwegian simulation technology company, Oiltec Solutions. The expansion will see ADS offer certification training, well engineering training and advanced drilling simulation training in ten locations.

ADS have trained over 125,00 people since 1982.