Case studies

Caspian Technical Training Centre (CTTC)

Scope: Training centre management and training delivery
Client: BP and partners
Location: Baku, Azerbaijan

Working with our joint venture partner TTE International Limited, we co-managed Caspian Technical Training Centre (CTTC) and delivered competence based, high quality technical training and education to locally recruited people. Although the centre had only been given a project lifespan of five years, our involvement more than doubled this.

The centre in Baku, Azerbaijan was instrumental in enabling BP to meet its nationalisation objectives and at the time of our exit 85% of the national technician workforce working within BP Azerbaijan were graduates from the CTTC.

World-class facilities
We determined the project’s assets, learner styles and levels of technical ability in the existing national workforce at the outset. Classes were then developed to suit these requirements, whilst classrooms and workshops were equipped with a variety of training aids, including:

• A drilling simulator
• An operations pilot plant (OPP) with distributed control system (DCS) simulation
• A process simulator
• A large and fully equipped operations and maintenance workshop 
• 24 classrooms and offices

The workshop facility and OPP were fitted with company equipment used extensively within the oil and gas industry, to provide underpinning knowledge and practical experience in a safe environment.

We provided the essential foundations for a career in the oil and gas industry, including:

• Mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and process operations training
• Technical and English language training to multiple levels
• Safety, HSE, IT, business behaviours and ethics principles
• Additional internationally accredited courses for those wanting to upgrade and enhance their existing knowledge and competence in the latest technological developments

These training programmes accelerated learning via the concentration of skills based technical training using specific experiential-type training equipment.

Building future workforces
Over the course of our involvement in the project, our team:

• Fast-tracked the design, build and fit out of the training centre
• Developed around 450 locally recruited Azeri staff each year since 2003
• Devised a tailored oil and gas curriculum to provide English language instruction followed by operations and maintenance training and assessment
• Achieved City & Guilds accreditation for the foundation programme encompassing English language, HSE and discipline specific training