OREANDA-NEWS. NCOC, on behalf of the Venture, and oil companies Total, KPO and TCO attended the launch of a programme aimed at training up welders for the oil and gas industry of Kazakhstan.

This is part of a wider initiative to upgrade the vocational education system in Kazakhstan under the International Welding Engineer Program. On completion of the course, the graduates will receive an international welding engineer diploma, recognized by 55 states, members of the International Institute of Welding.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman and Managing Director P.Offant talked about numerous employment opportunities that the oil industry offers for Kazakhstani welders, giving as an example Bolashak OFP which is made of ‘around 60 000 tonnes of structural steel –equaling 8 Eiffel Towers! And this is our project only. Considering that there are many other large-scale industrial developments undertaken in Kazakhstan I am sure that welding engineers will continue to be in strong demand.”

The initiative was put forward in 2009 at a meeting of the Foreign Investors’ Council and received strong backing from President Nazarbayev, who instructed the ministries of education and Oil&Gas to support this project. It is being implemented by the Karaganda Polytechnic Institute in coordination with the Ministry of Oil and Gas and the French Welding Institute (Institute de Soudure), the Independent Association of Kazakhstan’s Welders KazWeld, founded in March 2011 and financially supported by the Venture and Total, TCO and KPO.

Attending the ceremony in Karaganda were HR General Manager P. Campbell, ERD P.Delpont, representatives of TCO, KPO, KMG and the Oil Ministry as well as Deputy Akim of Karaganda oblast A. Akhmetzhanov, Vice-Minister Education and Science S. Shayakhmetov.