BP Awards FPSO Training Contract

BP has awarded offshore training provider Survivex a contract to develop and deliver a training program for operational personnel on the Greater Tortue Almeyim (GTA) development project off West Africa, 3T Energy Group unit Survivex reported Wednesday.

Located on the Mauritania-Senegal maritime border, the BP-operated GTA project will develop the Tortue gas field as an offshore floating LNG facility, according to a fact sheet on BP’s website. Survivex noted that it will train BP personnel in safety-critical operating procedures and processes for its floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) and hub facilities.

“We are delighted an honored to secure this revolutionary training program with BP,” remarked Gavin Taylor, 3T’s vice president for global sales and strategy, in a written statement emailed to Rigzone.

Survivex pointed out that it will use immersive training technology including virtual reality, augmented reality and mobile apps. The company noted the tailor-made program will incorporate a virtual reality digital twin of BP’s facilities to help deliver an immersive project experience. The digital twin will enable personnel to familiarize themselves with facility layouts and learn operating systems and procedures, the firm explained.

“This is blended learning at its very best and will set the standard for the way training is delivered in the future,” continued Taylor. “Learning critical health and safety information through traditional means such as PowerPoint presentations simply wouldn’t have been effective to achieve our objectives for this project.”

Training for operational personnel will start this summer before they join the facilities during construction and commissioning, Survivex noted.

“The immersive techniques we use will ensure the crew are fully familiar with all of the project’s safety-critical and unique operating procedures and equipment before even setting foot onboard the facilities,” said Taylor. “We already know through numerous studies that active learning using technology such as virtual reality embeds knowledge and helps knowledge retention. Our bespoke gaming-inspired mobile app will further enhance this by continually testing and assessing knowledge. Ultimately our aim is to embed an unrivaled safety culture through technology-led training, which will be game-changing for the oil and gas sector.”

According to Survivex, up to 100 personnel will undergo the training program over the next 18 to 24 months.

“Following an extensive tender process, we are delighted to award our new training contract to Survivex and the 3T Energy Group,” commented BP Project Operations Staffing Lead Will Kelly. “The 3T Energy Group demonstrated a creative and innovative approach to the project requirements and we are excited about working with them on this and future projects.”

To contact the author, email mveazey@rigzone.com.