SembMarine opens 2nd Batam training centre to raise workers' skill levels

Singapore

SEMBCORP Marine's offshore platform business unit SMOP has set up a second welding training centre in Batam, scarcely a year after it invested in the first such centre, aimed at retaining a core group of skilled workers there.

This drive to raise the skills of its Batam workforce to the level demanded of those who work in the industry's toughest environments is being seen by some as a sign of the "new normal" emerging in the offshore and marine (O&M) sector. Two years into a slump, oil companies have also raised upstream oil and gas spend, though this is conditional on there being no escalation in contracting costs.