KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 28): PETRONAS has launched a new training facility known as INSTEP Integrated Oil and Gas Training Centre (IIOGTC), located within the Institut Teknologi Petroleum PETRONAS (INSTEP) in Batu Rakit, Terengganu.

The launch of the industry-scale facility, a part of PETRONAS’ continuous efforts to further develop Malaysia’s human capital, was officiated by Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said yesterday.

He was accompanied by Youth and Sports Minister Encik Khairy Jamaluddin and PETRONAS’ President & Group CEO Tan Sri Dato’ Shamsul Azhar Abbas.

The IIOGTC replicates actual upstream and downstream facilities, and was developed at an estimated cost of RM250 million.

It also feature a drilling rig, a drilling simulator and an engineering workshop.

The region’s first-of-its-kind training facility was developed with the objective of equipping INSTEP’s trainees and PETRONAS’ workforce with necessary knowledge and skills in the oil and gas industry through industrial training conducted in a realistic and safe plant environment.

The IIOGTC will be used by INSTEP’s Petroleum Technology Programme (PTP) trainees as their on-the-job training (OJT) to expose them to real processes and operations in upstream and downstream sectors of the industry.

The training facility is also open to other industry players, local and international, to upskill their engineers and technicians.

Speaking at the event, Tan Sri Dato’ Shamsul Azhar said, “The development of IIOGTC is one of PETRONAS’ significant investments in the area of human capital development which aims at creating highly-skilled and qualified manpower to meet the rapidly-growing oil and gas sector in Malaysia,”

The facility is expected to increase INSTEP’s training capacity by two-fold to 1,700 trainees per year.

PETRONAS has also established several educational institutions namely Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP); Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM) and PETRONAS Leadership Centre (PLC).