Transforming Training Through Collaboration

There was a time when the mantra ‘every man for himself’ ruled in the world of oil and gas. Competition was fierce between rival companies within this sector and it seemed there was very little room for collaboration.

While industry has embraced greater operational collaboration, when it comes to training, little has changed. Until now.

When Norwell EDGE launched in 2017, we wanted to shake things up, do things differently. That started with how we worked with others. We actively encouraged partnerships and knowledge sharing – knowing that as industry we can achieve incredible things when we work together. And nowhere is that more critical than in developing the skills of our people.

That approach has resonated with forward-thinking companies and, with the pandemic driving digitalisation, we have launched our most ambitious collaboration yet.

In less than six months an idea for an out-of-the-box digital Well Integrity training course that could be shared across the industry went from an initial conversation to a fully-fledged project – all because of a truly collaborative approach between Spirit Energy, Neptune Energy and Norwell EDGE.

Why has this collaboration been so successful?

Innovative mindset: The need for an easy and effective way to deliver standardised Well Integrity training has been recognised and discussed for a long time. It took the pandemic to remove the comfort-zone option of classroom training to move people towards a more innovative approach. Once in that mindset, the potential to create a solution that would benefit the whole industry became clear.

Clear and definable need:  The need for a Well Integrity course had already been established. Once the delivery method – an eLearning platform had been agreed upon – we made sure that everyone was on the same page about the outcomes and delivery. It’s natural for collaborative partners to have competing or different objectives and the risk of mission creep was high. Ensuring we had clearly defined outcomes and milestone kept everyone focused and provided the environment for an agile project approach.

Mutual respect: At the heart of this collaboration was a recognition that everyone brought something different and of equal value to the table. That mutual respect fostered a trusted partnership that streamlined both content and technology development.

A shared commitment to deliver: The fact the partnership was able to deliver the programme at the height of the pandemic is a testament to everyone’s belief that it was critical to develop a solution for the benefit of the industry. With the pandemic increasing the pressures everyone was under it would have been easy for this to go on the back-burner. It didn’t. In fact, the launch of the training programme in January is only just the beginning.

What’s next?

The Well Integrity project continues to go from strength-to-strength with more operators due to join the roll out in the coming months. For Norwell EDGE, we have taken the insights we have gained from this project and reviewed how we work with all of our partners across education, industry and technology. This has lead to the development of a new collaboration charter which we will share soon.

About the Well Integrity training

The programme offers operators the opportunity to deliver a standardised course of e-learning for Well Integrity, similar in concept to the Minimum Industry Safety Training (MIST) across their international workforces.

The digital training, which aligns with Oil and Gas UK’s well lifecycle guidelines, utilises the latest methods to boost knowledge retention and engagement including micro-learning, animation, video, quizzes and 3D virtual game scenarios.

The programme is delivered across three phases, the first an introductory series of three modules giving personnel an introduction to wells from the ground up. The second phase includes seven detailed Well Integrity modules that are designed to boost overall awareness and give a solid foundation in the key Well Integrity principles. And finally, the third phase is where operators can specify company-specific requirements around their own Well Integrity management systems.