Petrofac confirms that its Training Services business has acquired the trade, assets and people of SkillsXP, from Dutch company Tritanium, for an initial cash consideration of €1 million. A further cash consideration of up to €0.5 million is payable over three years, subject to the business achieving certain agreed performance targets.

SkillsXP, a competency management software tool, was established by Tritanium in 2000 and is focused primarily on the oil & gas industry, where there are complex competency management requirements. SkillsXP delivers a holistic view of competence and compliance assurance, while enabling organisations to combine HR management with learning and development in a single integrated solution.

Petrofac has acquired the trade, software, Intellectual Property, and the 13 staff who develop and support SkillsXP from Tritanium BV. The team will continue to be based in the Netherlands and Houston led by the current management as part of Petrofac Training Services.

By working in partnership for a number of years, Petrofac and SkillsXP have already formed a relationship and developed a turnkey solution through which Petrofac's existing customers manage their internal process, from learning delivery through training management to competence management and assurance. This system complements Petrofac's existing management, technical and engineering expertise in the arena of learning, training and competence and enables the group to respond to the increasing demand for the provision of such services.

Commenting on the acquisition, Paul Groves, managing director, Petrofac Training Services said: 'Global businesses, particularly those operating in demanding industries such as oil & gas, need to have assurance that the frameworks they are using for managing competency and personal development are both robust and scalable. These businesses are increasingly looking for a partner to provide single source solutions to strategic workforce management from definition of what is required, through to training to meet desired levels of competence, all supported by a database that allows this to be monitored and managed in real-time.

'The acquisition of SkillsXP, and importantly, the team that developed and now manages the software, will enhance Training Services' existing capabilities and support Petrofac to reach its aim of becoming the leading services provider to meet the complete competence assurance process challenges of the global oil & gas industry.'

Tags: Petrofac