Kenya and other countries in the region, such as Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan, lack requisite skills for the oil and gas sector while these countries are preparing to exploit newfound resources. Unfortunately due to the skills gap foreign labourers are now brought in from Nigeria, South Africa, Lebanon and China to support these developments.

The Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas (MIOG) is established to develop human resource capacity for partner states in oil and gas pipelines management, operations and maintenance to reduce dependence on expatriate workers.

The MIOG (owned by Kenya Pipeline Company Plc) is the only institution in East Africa of its kind and it is MIOGs vision to offer competence-based technical courses in pipeline maintenance, project management, pipeline technology, operations, safety, quality control and legal and regulatory frameworks.

Working on the upgrade of their Institute the MIOG awarded Devotra in December 2017 the contract for the supply, installation, commissioning of 3 Smart Classrooms, consisting of:

  • Smart Classroom 1: Presentation
  • Smart Classroom 2: Experiments
  • Smart Classroom 3: Presentation Oil & Gas.

The contract also includes the technical assistance to it, being a considerable training component.

For this project we designed the three classrooms dedicated to the project. The special Oil & Gas presentation classroom contains specific presentation and simulation material, that can be connected to a 4th Smart Classroom that will contain all practical training material for the execution of the experiments. This 4th Smart Classroom is planned for phase 2 of the project.

Recently Devotra executed the site survey at MIOG and we are at the moment preparing an inception report that includes an advice that assist the MIOG for a proper preparation of the workshops, to allow a smooth acceptance of the Smart Classroom furniture and equipment.

Meanwhile in The Netherlands the procurement is being done at all the partners and suppliers to enable the delivery of the hard and software medio May 2018.

To inform the stakeholders and staff members of the MIOG and KPC, Devotra organised a workshop in Nairobi, in which the Smart Classroom concept for MIOG was explained in detail.

See the article on the MIOG website:  www.morendat.co.ke/

Consultancy

End of February, beside the Smart Classroom contract Devotra also signed another agreement with KPC-MIOG. This time for consultancy services to develop a Masterplan for developing the current MIOG into an International Accredited Centre of Excellence for the Oil & Gas Industry in East Africa. In our consultancy report we will assess the labour market, review the occupational standards and curricula available, identify the equipment

requirements and related infrastructure. Specifically due to our long term experience in Kenya since 2008 on the educational and labour market, we are sure that our plans and recommendations would fit perfectly within the Kenyan context and requirements.