Petrofac has designed, refurbished and equipped a state-of-the-art technical training centre in Syria, as part of its long-term commitment to CSR and training.

The centre, part of the Syrian Government's commitment to develop competent personnel for the growing oil & gas sector, has been donated by Petrofac to the Government and was today inaugurated by the country's Prime Minister, His Excellency Mohammad Naji Ottri.

Around 50 of Petrofac's investors and energy sector investment analysts attended the inauguration, which took place during the group's annual investor trip. As the first group to visit the centre since it opened to students in September, they were able to see exactly how the residential programmes are run and met with some of the students.

The training centre, the first of its kind in the country, provides competence-led training to the workforce of General Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of the Syrian Petroleum and Syrian Gas companies. Designed by Petrofac's Training Services business the facility has been built on a brownfield site near Al Bisa, Homs in central Syria.

The centre can accommodate 120 delegates each year and the programme starts with three months of technical English language training followed by nine months of technical and safety training incorporating the electrical, mechanical, instrumentation and production disciplines.

Speaking at the launch event Petrofac's group chief executive, Ayman Asfari said: 'Petrofac has been active in Syria since the early nineties through our Engineering & Construction business and we have grown up alongside the oil & gas industry here. We have been honoured today by the presence of His Excellency the Prime Minister, which reflects the importance of this new facility to Syria and I am proud of our involvement.'

The centre will be operated by Petrofac Training Services for five years. It is currently staffed by a 30-strong Petrofac-led team including nine expatriate instructors, but over time all instructors will be local, as Paul Groves, managing director of Petrofac Training Services explains: 'We have applied our knowledge and experience to design and develop the centre and for the next five years we will provide the operations support for the facility. During this time, we will be recruiting, training and developing local instructors and managers to create a sustainable facility where Syrian students are being trained exclusively by Syrian instructors by 2015.'

Tags: Petrofac