“We have been really pleased with the way the Taranaki Drilling School has been going,” Greymouth chief operating officer John Sturgess told EnergyReview.net today.

"The vast majority of graduates have found work in the industry and the school has also done one short course in Kazakhstan.”

The homegrown drilling school had now run four block courses from its New Plymouth headquarters – four-week classroom induction courses, followed by eight-week practical stints “on the job, in the field, on the rigs”, Sturgess said.

Greymouth project manager Geoff Otene, who runs the school, told ERN that about 90% of the trainees had successfully graduated and been snapped up by various firms, particularly by companies supplying various downhole services.

Three had obtained positions on the Ensco Rig 56 jack-up that is due in Taranaki waters next month to drill six more wells in the offshore Pohokura gas-condensate field.

Otene said head tutor Jesse Olsen had gone to Kazakhstan, in association with Marine & Offshore Pacific, to run a one-week course late last year on how to deal with stuck downhole pipe.

“Our qualifications are already recognised in New Zealand and we are working on having them recognised in Australia as well," Otene said.

“We are confident of getting more work overseas and, ultimately, I would like to supply service companies around the world with graduates trained by our tutors.”

Independent player Greymouth helped set up the drilling school last year, putting forward NZ$250,000 to establish it in New Plymouth, the main city of the petroleum-rich Taranaki region.