COMPANY REPORT
Company Report Table of Contents
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Analysis A 360-Degree Approach to Risk Management
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View From the Top Ulises Nofrietta | Senior Operations Coordinator for Mexico | RelyOn Nutec
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Spotlight Drilling, Intervention and the Benefits of Simulation
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Spotlight RelyOn Nutec to Open New State‑of-the-Art Training Facility
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A 360-Degree Approach to Risk Management COVID-19 was an unfortunate reminder that safety regulations and requirements can change in extremely compressed time frames, especially when a unique situation challenges the existing applicability of safety protocols. Operators in high-risk industries like oil and gas, in particular, had even more safety concerns to worry about than ever before. The last 18 months demonstrated that companies need to be serious and methodical in protecting their business when it comes to a life-changing event, such as the pandemic. RelyOn Nutec offers a variety of services under its “safety management services” umbrella, which covers not only regulatory compliance management but also training, testing and consulting services, giving its clients the opportunity to foresee new requirements by anticipating new risks. This is achieved through their 360-degree approach to risk awareness and management. The 360-Degree Framework RelyOn Nutec identifies eight kinds of safety risks in the industry as part of its 360-degree model: 1. Risks created by recurring processes and work routines. 2. Risks created by national, local or site-specific attitudes and cultures. 3. Risks created by the surrounding natural or urban environment. 4. Risks created by the state of equipment and assets (choice, maintenance, integrity, etc.). 5. Risks created by a lack of knowledge or skills among workers. 6. Risks created by a lack of knowledge or skills among managers. 7. Risks created by other companies involved in the project or site in question. 8. Risks created by random errors or completely unforeseen circumstances. For high-risk industries that are capital-intensive like oil and gas, operators will find an indispensable partner in RelyOn Nutec, which can help find ways to address risks with the least possible disruption to operations. A Portfolio of Expertise RelyOn Nutec’s core expertise, and that of its parent company Polaris, focuses on four industries: hydrocarbons, maritime, renewable energy and the industrial sector. It has over 30 training centers in more than 18 countries. A safety partner must also adapt to the logistical needs of its clients, which is why RelyOn Nutec has experience offering its training services through traditional modalities as well as through outsourced “training management” modalities that include online courses, along with on-site training, crisis management training and consulting services. Read the complete article More about this topic
Over 20 years of safety experience has given RelyOn Nutec a unique value and position in the oil and gas industry. Worksite safety is the company’s top priority.
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Q: How would you describe the operational realities of keeping your service offering open throughout the pandemic? A: This was a complicated subject in all the markets that RelyOn Nutec operates in. Our training and development capabilities at our facilities were definitely affected. Despite this reality, we overcame the obstacles that presented themselves throughout the pandemic by implementing new virtual and digital training models, frameworks, courses and programming. I am proud to say that we adapted to the situation quite quickly. Our instructors rapidly mastered the digital platforms that we started using. The same can be said of our sales staff, who swiftly shifted their promotional materials and duties to digitalized channels so that the same market could be reached through different means. Our operational reality was constant. We did not shut down at all but we did change many of the paths and venues through which we reach our students, or “delegates,” as we also call them. Now that we are exiting the pandemic and there is little more flexibility in terms of regulations and practices to allow for more face-to-face schooling, we are readjusting to that as well. In fact, technically speaking, our entire face-to-face curriculum continued throughout the pandemic. It was merely reduced for classroom safety reasons. In a way, it has been just a matter of getting class sizes back to a certain pre-pandemic level. At
Ulises Nofrietta
the same time, many of the digital training modalities that we adopted during the pandemic are undoubtedly here to stay. They worked perfectly, although we are still fine-tuning them with each new iteration. They have proven to be invaluable tools for
Senior Operations Coordinator for Mexico | RelyOn Nutec
many reasons that go beyond the way in which they helped us to survive throughout the pandemic. Our digital transformation has also motivated us to get more involved in developing digital training tools, which we are doing through our digital platform, RelyOn Know-How. This path represents the future for us.
How To Operate a Training Center Throughout a Pandemic
Q: How do these digital tools broaden the scope of safety training for the whole industry? A: They definitely help us reframe the conversation substantially. It democratizes access, for starters. It also gives us a new way to deal with saturation. It is important to mention here that the services we offer are essential for the entire industry, especially in the offshore context of Ciudad del Carmen. Of course, our ability to supply them to everybody is obviously not unlimited, so anything that helps us deal with overcapacity and overbooking at our physical training facilities plays an important role in the functioning of the whole industry. We can make our classes larger and we can extend them to any number of people who might not be able to be physically present at our facilities, which is a logistical consideration that also became more relevant when more people were spending downtime in hotel rooms fulfilling quarantine requirement after flying into the port to begin their shifts or contracts. Obviously, all of these digital options had to be developed, as my colleagues have mentioned in past interviews, through a complete collaboration with all the verifiers and certifiers in the industry. They were somewhat reluctant at first to allow for some of these digital safety training courses and modules to replace some of the face-to-face programs but we convinced them once we made it clear that to receive a certification, all applicants and delegates
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were required to complete a hybrid modality that combined digital classes and live exercises and tests. We accomplished a similar compromise with the external certifications that we offer, such as those managed by OPITO and IADC authorities, through the development and use of their own digital platforms. Q: To what degree are you getting involved in new types of projects as the pandemic begins to wane? A: We want to be much more closely involved with all the private operators that are expanding the scope of their projects in the Campeche Basin and the entire south of the GOM. This market is a big part of our future agenda. We are also expanding our offering of well control safety training courses in partnership with the International Well Control Forum (IWCF) and their own proprietary digital platforms. We are promoting this offering the most. We have partnered up with Aberdeen Drilling School to optimize our well control course implementation with both Mexican and international instructors to standardize the quality of these training modules. We want our delegates in Mexico to take well control courses that are up to the standard of those they would be taking in Aberdeen if they were working in the North Sea. Well control courses are particularly relevant in Mexico because of the way in which drilling activity has not only continued but increased on the Mexican side of the GOM throughout the pandemic. Well control courses can guarantee a safe worksite in the most grueling and technically complicated of drilling campaigns. Drillers also need to work under safety protocols that do not force them to sacrifice the quality and precision of their work, which would endanger the integrity of their wells. There are four levels to this kind of training and all four are needed to operate a drilling project in the complex offshore environments that are common in the Campeche Basin. They are also relevant for onshore operations, where drilling activity in Mexico is also ramping up. Other OPITO certifications that are becoming increasingly relevant for our service portfolio include our Major Emergency Management Initial Response (MEMIR) Read the complete article More about this person More about this company
courses, which are geared toward the upper management of offshore worksites and vessels, especially on-site safety authorities. These courses are more focused on the general decision-making processes that define whether or not an accident will result in avoidable casualties or not.
SPOTLIGHT
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Drilling, Intervention and the Benefits of Simulation Oil and gas safety training services were already in a state of rapid evolution before the pandemic began. However, COVID-19 highlighted the urgent need to digitally transform these services to provide the industry’s workforce with the appropriate safety training through the more flexible models that digital tools can provide. A key area in this accelerated evolution is the increasing relevance of simulation and simulators, which can accurately model specific drilling and well control scenarios to train workers and managers in the delicate art of managing an offshore crisis. This focus on simulation represents a milestone for the evolution of both safety training services and also the industry’s safety culture as a whole. Mark Denkoweski, Drilling Services Manager for the Gulf of Mexico at international safety training and equipment services provider RelyOn Nutec, has spent 16 years of his oil and gas career working offshore in North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and West Africa for companies that included GlobalSantaFe, Transocean and Frontier Drilling, including a decade-long sting at the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC). “All of my past combined experiences have helped me understand the industry’s safety culture and how it has evolved over the years,” he said. Simulators enhance a mechanism that has always been prominent in safety training: role playing. In course packages, such as IADC’s WellSharp Plus and International Well Control Forum’s (IWCF)
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SPOTLIGHT Enhanced Drilling Well Control, simulators are used to take accredited role-playing well control courses to the next level of precision and realism. “Unlike other courses in this category, which end with the well control test, these courses begin with students taking and being expected to pass the well control knowledge test and skills assessments,” Denkowski said. “With the test and skills assessment completed, students spend time simulating increasingly difficult well control incidents.” Denkowski is also quick to point out the technological possibilities of simulators. “In a full-size simulator, an accurate rendering of a client’s rig floor and equipment can be created to offer a more realistic experience for students.” This means that simulators can play a role that goes beyond training. “We are able to create digital twins of individual wells, which allows us to tailor training options to the exact customization needs of individual operators.” Operators have used RelyOn Nutec’s full-size drilling simulators to test their drilling plans and to pre-drill difficult downhole sections. Through the use of simulation, operators are able to verify the accuracy of the well designs and risk profiles and are able to adjust their drilling plans as needed, saving a lot of time and money in the process. According to Denkowski, several operators are taking a position that they will not drill new wells without testing their well plan and coaching drill crews on a drilling simulator. This leads him to make an intriguing parallel: “In this sense, the offshore industry is beginning to adopt the practices of the aviation industry. Commercial and military pilots spend many hours in simulators as part of their initial training as well as for refresher training. Offshore operators are beginning to view simulators as a powerful tool in the same sense that aviation companies do.” While RelyOn Nutec does not yet have these kinds of well control simulator facilities in Mexico, Denkowski believes that their arrival in the country’s offshore hubs is highly probable given the increasingly important role they are playing in the industry. “Drilling simulators are powerful tools for assessing well designs, for coaching drilling crews, and for building teamwork in a safe environment,” said Denkowski. Most importantly, simulators provide a space for the kind of repetition and practice that is essential to the emergency readiness of oil and gas workers. “Offshore workers need to be Read the complete article More about this company
competent and capable, and simulation is essential to matching a student’s competency with their ongoing operational capabilities,” Denkowski said.
SPOTLIGHT
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RelyOn Nutec to Open New State‑of-the-Art Training Facility Strengthening its presence in northern Mexico, RelyOn Nutec will open a new training center in Tampico, Tamaulipas, during the second half of 2022. The company’s latest hub seeks to further support the oil and gas industry in that region, while keeping its commitment to improve safety. The company told MBN that the biggest industry risk from a work environment perspective is the lack of training and budget allocated to safety measures, which has increased the frequency of accidents. RelyOn Nutec seeks to change this reality through its latest state-of-the-art training facility, which will incorporate the company’s full suite of safety and technical training services and simulation technology. RelyOn Nutec decided to open the center in Tamaulipas because the state boasts a resilient industrial sector, with major oil and gas companies and where demand for safety services is very high. The new headquarters will be located 20 minutes from the Tampico International Airport and six minutes from the city’s hotel area, which includes the BONITO INN, Holiday Inn and City Express. The new center will include six classrooms and a simulation room, where the latest training courses will be offered, including the T-BOSIET, T-HUET, T-FOET, API RP 2D APIU Approved Edition, Entry and Rescue in Confined Spaces, Fire Fighting and +Rescue Advanced, Work at Heights and Rescue and Training in Compressed Air Emergency Breathing Systems (CA-EBS). In addition, the company will provide key certifications, such as IADC, IWCF and API. Furthermore, the company
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SPOTLIGHT announced it will create alliances with other educational centers to make training and safety equipment accessible to new generations and future operators. “One of the biggest benefits for members of the industry in central and northern Mexico is that they will have access to quality training and consulting services, as well as having a global presence with us. Currently, we provide the only training center in Mexico that offers the OPITO certification, which is an organization of competences in the US energy sector that works to develop a safe and qualified workforce by promoting global standards and qualifications. These skills have become a must for the industry. We want to be their main ally when it comes to safety,” RelyOn Nutec told MBN. RelyOn Nutec said it is excited to take this step and continue expanding throughout Mexico, considered its second home. The company announced it will provide additional information regarding its new center, welcoming the entire oil and gas industry to visit its facilities and attend the inauguration in June. The company is a global provider of security, compliance and competition services and solutions. It has 32 facilities, helping clients improve people’s safety, assets and the environment through innovative digital services, including digital learning, simulation technology and a suite of SaaS applications. RelyOn Nutec’s wide variety of services and high quality has made it a leading global safety partner for major companies, including Read the complete article More about this company
Seadrill, ENI, Halliburton, EMSEP, IPS, Saipem, Modec, Baker Hughes, Petronas, Fieldwood, Lukoil, Hokchi, Shell Mexico and Schlumberger.
