Aberdeen Drilling School had its busiest month in its 30-year history this year and the demand for training does not look set to subside.
Demand for training in drilling is mostly being driven from overseas – to such a level that the school has predicted its 2012 turnover will be double what it saw in 2010, at about £4.5million compared to £2.2million in 2010.
To meet demand, and following a four-year training programme in Kuwait, the firm has now just opened a base – offices and training space – in Muscat, Oman, to cover the Middle East.
It is also hoping to open a training base in Saudi Arabia. In addition, it is running training operations in South Africa, where it has a portable simulator, and has staff currently training in Guyana, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and, recently, Cuba.
“Global activity has helped us, no question,” said Jim Sutherland, who joined the firm as a consultant in 1994 but recently bought out school founder Gene Wilson, who continues to work for the business out of Houston.
“In the Middle East there have been nationalisation programmes,” said Sutherland.
“Russia could also be a big market for us. We have a version of the well control course in Russian. We are also looking at more and more in-country training,” he added.
To help international expansion the firm recently recruited Steve Redgrave as technical director. It would like to take on more staff to grow even more, but Sutherland says it is not easy finding experienced people.
March saw some 500 delegates go through the school – the most in any one month since the school was founded in 1994, which has meant some courses have had to run out of Pittodrie Stadium due to the firm’s Union Glen classrooms being at capacity.
Of the 500, 125 were on scheduled courses in Aberdeen, 75 were on unscheduled bespoke courses in the Granite City, about 250 went through courses internationally and another 50 were in the Middle East.
Of the courses, high pressure, high temperature training has been particularly busy in the last six months.
Sutherland: “The big thing at the moment, because it is such a global business and a lot of people are coming in to it, people do not have the experience and they need the training.”
The school employs about 50 in total, 30 of those regular staff, with 20 based in Aberdeen and 10 in the Middle East.
