Last week, a twenty-three-member crew of Mechanical Technicians left the Arabian Industries camp in Rusayl to a remote oilfield in southern Oman as they were adding a new chapter in national skill development in Oman’s ICV journey.
The safe and successful completion of PDO’s Amal 2022 shutdown has created history as it deployed a 100% Omani team through the recently awarded OPAL TA contract.
The Oman Construction Company LLC, widely known as TOCO, is a subsidiary of Arabian Industries LLC (AI) which is one of the leading Oil & Gas service companies in the region which delivers manufacturing services, EPC Projects, Maintenance & Turnarounds, Logistics & Rig Moving and Support Services leveraging on a skilled workforce of over 9,000 personnel.
TOCO is part of Oman’s rich Oil & Gas legacy as it is credited for several firsts including construction of the very first oil infrastructure after discovery of commercially viable oil in the sixties. In another first, TOCO was appointed in 2021 as the first Independent Contractor to develop a 100% Omani turnaround team by the Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL) which had partnered with the three major operators including Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO), Oman LNG and OQ in this initiative of national importance. This contract was the culmination of a major national objective set by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals to increase Omani content in Turnaround and Maintenance activities across Oman which has been historically delivered by large contingent of short-term expatriate manpower. A “Turnaround” (TAR) is an extensively planned and resourced maintenance event where a process plant is taken offline for a short period (usually a month long) for essential repair, maintenance and upgradation activities.
Over the past six months, the TOCO project team was working closely with OPAL and the three operators in resourcing and planning upcoming TAR’s. Part of this exercise a team of 23 were selected after a rigorous interview process involving OPAL, PDO, Oman LNG, OQ and major TAR/maintenance contractors in Oman including TOCO and AI.
The litmus test of the readiness of the 100% Omani TAR team was done last week as they were deployed in Amal field to deliver a critical production station shutdown. This event was part of Arabian Industries Project (AIP)’s Maintenance and Integrity Contract (MIC) for PDO. The twenty three member crew was distributed among various teams to deliver eleven work-packs in a 16 hours window.
The Omani TAR team will now be preparing for their forthcoming assignments where they will enhance their skills to be able to independently deliver major work packs in future. They are expected to receive an all-round exposure to all kinds of process assets by working in diverse locations of PDO, Oman LNG and OQ. The team will be strengthened further by new additions in the coming months as TOCO are now engaged in competency assessment of a larger pool of Omani resources.
To know more about our Maintenance and Turnaround capabilities, please visit: https://www.toco.com.om/what-we-do/maintenance-turnarounds/
To know more about our ICV success story, please check out : https://www.toco.com.om/in-country-value/