TALGAT BEGAN HIS CAREER WITH PETROFAC SEVEN YEARS AGO AS A GRADUATE. HE SAYS HE HAS GAINED HUGE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE FROM WORKING ON AL TAWEELAH

I joined the Petrofac Academy… in 2012 as a graduate mechanical engineer. I’m from Kazakhstan and can speak Russian, so I’ve worked on several projects where Russian speakers were required. I also worked as a project engineer on the Galkynysh gas field development in Turkmenistan.

I make sure that… Petrofac delivers a high-quality product with high safety standards. My responsibilities evolved as the project developed. I spent a year setting up the site – there was virtually nothing here, so I set up the roads, temporary offices and other arrangements. I then oversaw the installation of all underground facilities and then moved to site infrastructure. These were the three main ‘packages’ of work I oversaw.

My day starts at 5 am… I reach the site at 6.20 am, then have a cup of coffee, before a daily morning meeting with the contractor and crew to look at what’s planned for the day. I then do a 30-minute site tour to see how people are working and how equipment is moving around the site. The afternoon will then be spent on paperwork and updating the contractor on progress. I might also receive requests from contractors to carry out quality inspections of work. I need to be good at problem solving – each day brings something different to resolve.

My most memorable moment… was a huge meeting with everyone involved in the project – all the contractors, Bechtel, Petrofac and EGA. As a graduate everything was new – I didn’t know anything about construction. Then seeing 4,000 people altogether onsite was unbelievable. We all had to shout out our safety slogan together – Always Safe. It was really impressive.

People of all nationalities… Australian, Chinese, American, Jordanian, Indian, Portuguese, have been involved in this project. We have become close friends and they feel like my family now. I will always remember this project as a team of friends who built a unique plant with smiles on our faces. It’s exciting to have finally produced first alumina – we made it!

I play football… once or twice a week after work with friends from Petrofac, then I have no energy left. I also like watching football, especially the English Premier League – my favourite team is Manchester United.

Meet the people behind this project