PCI Blog and News

Greetings to all of our loyal clients and students!

The last week of April, 2017 will mark our two year anniversary with the new IADC WellSharp program.  Petroleum College International was an early adopter of the program and ran the initial "Pilots" during late April and early May of 2015.  

As expected, not everyone has been happy about the changes to well control training.  There has been a lot of "push back" and "resistance" against the new competency standard spearheaded by the IADC.  

Petroleum College International (PCI), and a small hand full of other training providers, persisted and supported the IADC led industry efforts to improve well control training standards. Now, with two years of history, we are able to document the success of the new training standard.  To get here, has required a great deal of effort and there has been no small amount of pain involved, but we have had real, measurable, success!  Sure, there have been some individual failures, but those individuals received a second shot.  In some cases, even a third shot.  The hard-core "threepeaters" have accomplished something they could never achieve before WellSharp...they have achieved honest success!  

We have the IADC WellSharp Program to thank.  After an honest and informative end-of-course evaluation, individual areas of weakness are identified and each individual is provided with a growth plan or may be re-trained with a new focus and intensity never available before standardized testing.  During re-training, a narrow focus is placed on identifying areas of weakness and closing gaps.  

A high percentage of class attendees are successful on their first attempt at the competency exam.

The few attendees that must repeat the examination, receive remediation, and are usually successful on the second examination attempt.

In the rare case where failure occurs on the second examination attempt, it can usually be attributed to individual reading and comprehension deficiencies that take time to correct, and requires that the entire course be repeated after the identified deficiencies are corrected. Trainees that repeat the entire course, rarely fail the second attempt. 

When individuals are not successful, even with a repeat of the course, they are usually re-positioned into jobs more appropriate to their capability. 

Upon completion of the new standard, a competent workforce is insured.

WellSharp is difficult, but it is also very REAL!  EVERYONE WINS!  The individual wins. His or her employer wins. The entire oil and gas industry wins!  Our world and our environment is a better place!  This is an outcome that is worth the pain and the effort!

IN SUMMARY:  At the start of WellSharp, we learned that our South Texas workforce COULD pass a standardized exam.  We learned to overcome the language and reading barriers and deficiencies. We adapted to changing expectations and requirements.  We re-confirmed that it is far better to be part of the SOLUTION and not the PERSISTENT PROBLEM!

PCI, through our training partnership with TrainND at Williston State College, has been successful in extending these successes and benefits to the workforce in the Williston Basin of North Dakota.

We are proud of the improvements and successes we have achieved over the past two years. However, these achievements do not belong exclusively to PCI, and our training partners at UHV and Williston State College.  They belong to IADC WellSharp for leveling the playing field.  

More importantly, all success belongs to our clients and  our students!  You have stepped up to the new challenges!  You have demonstrated, beyond doubt, that all you needed was the (honest) opportunity to succeed.