Offshore training opportunity

EARLY in the New Year, two young Kumul Petroleum employees will be on their way to Vietnam and Japan on a two-month training programme.
The programme is organised by JX Nippon, Japan’s largest oil company.
Geologist Marama Kariko and Petroleum Engineer Stephanie Apoa said: “Kumul Petroleum generously supports us with flights, accommodation and a travel allowance on top of our usual graduate salary.”
The two young women are six months into Kumul Petroleum’s two-year graduate programme.
Kumul Petroleum managing director Wapu Sonk said the programme was established to qualify a new generation of Papua New Guineans for demanding jobs in the oil and gas industry.
“Marama and Stephanie are the third cohort and the JX Nippon training programme has been part of our graduate education all along,” he said.
First stop is Vietnam. The port city of Vung Tau in the south of Vietnam is dominated by crude oil and natural gas exploitation and this is where Kariko and Apoa will be based for the first seven weeks.
The Rang Dong oil field is 135 kilometres offshore from Vung Tau and this will be the focus of the training programme. “The geology programme consists of seismic interpretation, depth structure mapping, reserves calculation and risk analysis of the oil field and I’ll learn to use all relevant computer software”, explains Kariko.
Apoa will take part in the reservoir engineering program.
“Our programme is mainly focused on material balance analysis, well test analysis and reservoir simulation of the oil field using various computer software.”
A site visit to the Rang Dong oil field is part of the training programme and Kariko and Apoa are excited.
“None of us have ever been to an offshore oil field and it adds a whole new perspective to our work – all of a sudden it becomes real, not just a computer simulation.”
The two will spend the last 10 days of the trip in Tokyo.
“It will be a busy time. We will be visiting JX Nippon’s head office, LNG and crude oil terminals and refineries as well as JX fuel service stations.
“There is no way we could gain the same experience in PNG, the facilities simply aren’t here.”
Kariko and Apoa expect to grow at a personal level as well.
“Socially it will be very different but I plan to immerse myself and embrace the culture, food and people,” Kariko said.
Apoa agrees: “I’ve only been overseas once before, to China, so I don’t know what to expect.
“But Asian culture is very different to Melanesian so we might get a culture shock but that’s part of the experience.
“The food and maybe a language barrier will probably be our biggest challenges.”
The two young women are grateful to Kumul Petroleum and JX Nippon for the opportunity.
“The Kumul Petroleum management take their responsibility very seriously,” Sonk said.
“The company’s vision is to empower the people of PNG.