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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The oil and gas industry and south Louisiana higher education institutions have signed a pact to provide high-tech training for students seeking offshore jobs.
Chris John, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday with higher education officials. They included representatives from the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, the University of Louisiana System, Fletcher Technical Community College, Nicholls State University, and South Central Louisiana Technical Community College in Morgan City, according to The Advertiser (http://bit.ly/1l1M6FZ ). Also signing were representatives of the Louisiana Workforce Commission and Louisiana Economic Development.
John said demand for offshore oil and gas jobs could almost double in the next few years, due to an expected drilling expansion and a high number of people nearing retirement.
"There's going to be 40 percent retirement in 10 years, which has made a lot of industry folks very nervous," John said.
Once, John said, not even a high school diploma was needed to work offshore. But, now, with changes in technology, even those working on the drilling deck need specialized training.
"We must better equip tomorrow's offshore workers in today's classroom," John said. "This is not your mom and dad's oil industry."
LMOGA worked with community and technical college and Nicholls State University officials to develop a plan that would have people job-ready in two years after enrollment.
Earl Meador, chancellor of Fletcher, said his campus already has oilfield training but this would step it up. He said the cooperative industry-education training "is a must. It is not an option. Failure is not an option. We must train the workers of tomorrow today."
The program would send students to San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico, for their first year and they would return to Thibodaux to complete the training and hone their skills working with offshore equipment.
San Juan's College of Energy is recognized as one of the best in training workers, he said.
John said the training center in Thibodaux will grow with industry help and he envisions it becoming "a global training center for oilfield workers."
The oil and gas industry will work with college officials to develop the curriculum. Nicholls and Fletcher will share classrooms and faculty and students would stay in Nicholls' dormitories.
"The curriculum will be ever-changing with new technology going deeper, further," John said.
The training center also would be used by current employees to keep up with changes in technology, he said.
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Information from: The Advertiser, http://www.theadvertiser.com
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