Oil & Gas Competency Management: An Innovative Way to Attract, Develop, Maximize, and Retain Human Capital
Authors: Daher E. , Gimenez S. L. J. , Bonilla J. C. 
Published: September 2011

Oil & gas investments in education are growing rapidly and becoming increasingly strategic. The capability to cultivate and expand the human capital and, at the same time, develop and respond to technological advances, has become a major factor that distinguishes operators who attract, nurture, motivate and retain their working forces from those who do not. Most oil & gas companies (especially major resource holders) are striving to keep up with the technical discipline knowledge required and to stay abreast with the advances in techniques and methods in order to perform efficiently. But is this enough? Moreover, software solutions for petrotechnical information management and digital infrastructure; exploration; reservoir characterization; production; reservoir simulation; and petroleum economics, risk, and reserves are recognized as an increasingly integral part of business operations for oil & gas companies. As a result, operators have been very receptive to educational initiatives that go beyond the basic, traditional, domain discipline classroom training sessions. We are witnessing an industry trend of developing the "new multi-skilled breed of oil & gas professionals" performing in the digital age through a complete training methods covering domain science, software applications, workflows delivered using experiential, action and immersive learning methods.

Developing the new multi-skilled breed of professionals in their disciplines requires good understanding of their current competencies in the discipline, in the targeted job function and the proficiency of the various software or technical tools that will be used to perform.

Competency management therefore becomes crucial and tit the base of every learning and development program. Current E&P Competency Management should cover comprehensive and formal needs analysis, assessment, development, and tracking system of multiple skills specifically designed for each job function whether they are geoscientists, reservoir engineers, drilling, petroleum or production It should identify individual development requirements, create personalized educational plans, and provide a learning sequence that starts teaching domain concepts and theories, including technology workshops and hands-on experience, in addition to mentoring, evaluation, and certification to ensure that learning goals translate into results on the job. The competency-based learning and development plan should help transfer knowledge from the classrooms and workshops onto working results. The program should also address the need to plan, certify, and track skill developments of technical staff.

This paper therefore intends to Highlight the importance of the methodology used when carrying out competency management to develop professionals in their disciplines as well as the related technologies, andGo over a few practical case studies, analyzing how E&P organizations have adopted such competency management and developed adequate Learning and development plans for their employees.