3-D simulators give oil workers hands on experience

Fuel Fix:

Offshore drillers are putting together an army of workers to staff scores of new rigs under construction, and those recruits need boot camp and advanced training.

They’ll be using some of the world’s most sophisticated industrial machinery, with huge safety implications for people and the environment.

And it can take years of on-the-job experience and hands-on training for workers to master the challenges offshore drillers face, from weather conditions on the surface to pressure changes in wells miles below.

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But with at least 187 new rigs under construction or on order, the industry is going to need thousands of capable workers to staff them as soon as possible, said Cinnamon Odell, an analyst covering rigs for IHS Petrodata.

“It’s definitely a need out there, and not just in the U.S. Gulf region,” Odell said. “This is all over the world. People are looking for rig workers.”

Houston-based Diamond Offshore Drilling, which has 5,300 employees worldwide, is planning to hire about 970 new workers this year alone.

CEO Lawrence R. Dickerson said simulators are key to preparing those workers for what they’ll encounter at sea, and the company this year opened a new training center aimed at getting workers up to speed quickly.

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The $10 million facility, constructed in a renovated parking garage at Diamond’s Houston campus, is equipped with advanced training equipment in classrooms and simulation environments.

Among the machinery is a massive 3-D projection half-dome constructed over the windows of a replicated drillers’ shack — a reproduction of a drilling control room, complete with a simulated view outside and chairs equipped with joysticks and keypads. Eight digital projectors give trainees the sense that they are lifting and assembling stretches of drilling pipe that reach nearly 100 feet above the deck of a rig.

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There are a couple of videos at the link that demonstrate how the system works.  The tech world has become an important aspect of the actually drilling in the modern oil business.   With rapid growth in drilling the need to train employees being added is only going to lead to more of this.