The programme is to support the provision of local Ghanaian talent, who will ultimately nationalise highly specialised offshore roles supporting MGL offshore operations.A statement issued in Accra by Dr Papa Benin, Localisation Manager, said MGL currently operates and maintains two Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels off the Ghanaian coast.

It said these include the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah MV21, owned by Tullow Ghana Limited which was installed at the Jubilee field, one of the largest oil fields offshore West Africa and the FPSO Professor John Evans Atta Mills MV25, owned by a MODEC consortium, located at the Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme fields.

The statement said the company was fully committed to developing local talent in compliance with the Ghana’s petroleum regulation requirements for Local Content and Local Participation.It said previously MGL had identified the lack of suitably qualified Ghanaian oil and gas personnel to fill specialised offshore roles.

The statement said in order to address that need MGL partnered SMSG, since SMSG had a partnership arrangement with the RMU in Ghana and currently selects and recruits talent from RMU to develop as SMSG employees.

This is the first time that SMSG has entered into an agreement to support an oil and gas operator in the competence development of its staff.The statement said SMSG has its own personnel on the grounds of Regional Maritime University with the object to be the lead crew service provider in West Africa and to ensure the highest quality of training.

The MGL and SMSG relationship began in April 2017, when SMSG were asked by MGL to identify potential Ghanaian FPSO marine staff that had the capability to be developed into senior level positions within MGL.“Part of that development involved SMSG designing and delivering a bespoke training and development programme which would give the trainees a firm grounding in tanker operations including areas such as vessel stabilisation, offloading operations and inert gas operations,” it said.

It said with the agreement had the first six recruits as Marine Control Room Operations Trainees and it would include two to five months period on Schulte Group tankers and provide world class training with exposure to an offshore hydrocarbon working environment.

The statement said on successful completion of the programme, the trainees would be allocated to one of MGL’s FPSOs to continue their professional development towards their initial target position of Marine Control Room Operator where they will have responsibility for cargo and offloading operations on the vessel.

Mr David Gleave, Country Manager of MGL, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for MGL in developing a firm relationship with a proven global maritime company of Bernhard Schulte’s standing to develop the initial and continuing competences of our staff in our drive to localise MGL positions.”

He said the programme clearly demonstrated MGL’s commitment to its people and in association with Tullow Ghana Ltd the importance it places on the development of competence and skills within its workforce.

Mr Felix Leggewie, Chief Operating Officer of Bernhard Schulte, said “we are excited to strengthen our footprint in Ghana with such a highly reputable partner.”He said as a family owned company, they have always focussed on the development of human resources and are constantly trying to develop new concepts.

“Ghana is a location which has a strong relevance for us and we are very pleased that MODEC is supporting us with the development of this. We are looking forward to a continued successful cooperation,” he added.