The issues of attracting Kazakhstani employees to foreign enterprises, as well as the replacement of foreign personnel with local personnel, remain relevant in the oil and gas industry of the country. What kind of work on training of Kazakhstan’s specialists is carried out by large oil and gas operators? North Caspian Operating Company N. V. (NCOC) shared this information with petrocouncil.kz
NCOC noted that in order to achieve its own medium- and long-term goals for the replacement of foreign specialists with Kazakhstani personnel, the operator has developed a special target program to identify and select Kazakhstani personnel, followed by training and ensuring a long-term career in the company.
“Since 1998, more than 16 thousand citizens of Kazakhstan have been trained as NCOC employees or employees of local companies who are assisted by NCOC. Over the period of more than two decades, the operator has spent about USD 263 million on training and vocational training to build local capacity for the implementation of the North Caspian Project by local specialists,” the company representatives said.
In 2018 alone, 115 students did their summer internship in NCOC. The program gives local students an opportunity to work in real conditions of an international oil and gas company and gain practical experience on the most modern equipment in the industry.
At the same time, last year the consortium began to implement an International Internship Program together with shareholder companies. This program provides an opportunity for NCOC employees, as well as seconded employees from National Company KazMunayGas, to work abroad in the companies of shareholders of the North Caspian Project for up to two years in order to improve professional skills, expand knowledge and prepare for future positions in the company.
In addition, the operator has sponsored more than 3 thousand students from Kazakhstan in 80 educational institutions of the country and abroad. In monetary terms, the sponsorship costs for these purposes amounted to more than USD 7.5 million. NCOC provides funding, and Kazenergy Association manages a Scholarship Fund for academic training of citizens of Kazakhstan who are not employees of NCOC in specialties related to the oil and gas industry, including training in universities, colleges or other educational institutions. The funds are distributed on a competitive basis.
NCOC sponsored 388 students in 42 educational institutions to study in the 2018-2019 academic year, of which almost one hundred students are residents of Atyrau region.
The company supports the newly established Kazakhstan Maritime Academy. 2018 was the first year of the support program of the Kazakhstan Maritime Academy (KMA) in accordance with the Memorandum signed with the Kazakh-British Technical University in Almaty (KBTU). KMA was established under the auspices of this institution. Financial assistance is USD 900 thousand for three years. It is aimed at maintaining marine training facilities in KBTU and assisting in training 26 cadets to survive at sea and participating in the certification programs of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in Oman, which is the main prerequisite for the inclusion of Kazakhstan in the IMO “White List”.
The replacement of foreign experts by Kazakhstani staff.
NCOC representatives said that article 27 of the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement (NCS PSA) indicates common targets on the number of Kazakhstani personnel engaged in the performance of petroleum operations. To date, these targets have already been exceeded in the framework of Phase 1 of the Kashagan field development project. Thus, at the moment, 80% of the company’s management positions are held by local staff. Also, local staff occupy 95% of engineering and technical, administrative positions and trained specialists. 100% of the workforce and support positions are held by local staff.
In 2018, this share of Kazakhstan’s citizens among senior staff increased to 80% compared to 75% in the previous year, due to the restructuring of office and support functions in 2017.
At the same time, the level of local engineering, administrative staff and trained specialists decreased slightly in percentage terms last year.
“This happened in connection with additional works on the project related to future growth projects, which required additional involvement of technical experts for a short period,” NCOC noted.
In general, by the end of 2018, 90% of almost 3 thousand employees of NCOC are citizens of Kazakhstan. Of the more than 10 thousand employees involved in the North Caspian Project, 92% are citizens of Kazakhstan.
Let’s recall, North Caspian Operating Company N. V. is the operator of the North Caspian Project, signed in November 1997, created for the development of such offshore oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan as Kashagan, Kalamkas-Sea, Kairan, Aktoty and Kashagan South-West.
Shares of the Consortium members in the project: KMG Kashagan B. V – 16.88%, Agip Caspian Sea B. V. – 16.81%, ExxonMobil Kazakhstan Inc. – 16.81%, Shell Kazakhstan Development B. V. – 16.81%, Total E&P Kazakhstan – 16.81%, CNPC Kazakhstan B. V. – 8.33%, and Inpex North Caspian Sea, Ltd – 7.56%.
Photo: ncoc.kz