The Exploration and Production Department of ANCAP has offered courses within the framework of the Exploration and Production Professionals Training Program.
This program was created in 2014 with the aim to train the Professionals that joined the Exploration and Production Department of ANCAP, in subjects related to Petroleum Geosciences (Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry), Petroleum Engineering and Evaluation of Petroleum Projects. These disciplines and knowledge areas are not currently covered by other training programs in Uruguay and for that reason, a program with twelve intensive courses was created and it is taught by professionals of ANCAP trained abroad. That year, apart from ANCAP’s employees, other Governmental institutions related to the Exploration and Production activities in Uruguay were invited, with a total of 20 participants.
The Program in 2015 consisted of 11 intensive courses, and an introductory course was added, to synthetize most of the subjects. In that opportunity there was an increased interest for the activity, overcoming the expectations, reaching to 81 participants including representatives of public bodies and institutions such as ANCAP, the National Directorate of Energy and the National Directorate of Industries of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining; the National Directorate of Environment, as well as the Oceanography, Hydrographic and Meteorology Services of the Navy. There were also representatives of the private industry such as students of the Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Engineering from the Universidad de la República, as well as private students.
In 2016 the course “Introduction to the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production” was taught as a permanent education course in the facilities of CURE – UdelaR in the State of Treinta y Tres.
The 2017 edition of the Program took place with a very good participation. It was divided in 4 modules: “Introduction”, “Petroleum Geosciences”, “Petroleum Engineering” and “Evaluation of Petroleum Projects”. It comprised intensive courses of 40 hours per week each, distributed in 8 hours a day during 5 days (4 days for the field trip). It reached the number of 44 participants, and was attended by representatives of institutions and public bodies such as ANCAP, MIEM-DNE, DINAMA-MVOTMA, Navy, also from private industry (Tullow Oil, CSI Ingenieros, PLANIR, CEREGAS) and teachers and students of the Faculty of Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, CURE de Treinta y Tres and individuals.
In 2018, the “Introduction to the Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons” course was given in online mode for the first time. This time there were 40 registered participants, who accessed the materials available on the MOODLE platform. Among the participants were representatives of ANCAP, UDELAR (Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Sciences), other companies in Uruguay (INGENER, PLANIR, JAUME & SERE, BROU), as well as foreign oil companies (PDVSA, PETROPERU, Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo).
In 2019, students of the Faculty of Science working on Exploration and Production projects also took the online version of the Introduction to Hydrocarbons Exploration and Production course.
Since 2014, the number of participants who have been trained with this Program reaches 183.
To count with an effective transference of knowledge and a satisfactory level of engagement within the students, every course includes an evaluation method and a minimum of attendance to get the certificate of approval.
The instructors are Uruguayan professionals, employees of the Exploration and Production Department of ANCAP. The staff, which counts in its totality with Master level education, develops the experience acquired in important Exploration and Production projects both in Uruguay and abroad.
All these instances of training were evaluated very positively by the participants through anonym surveys, both for each course and for the Program in general.
This activity is financed through the Training Fund of the Exploration and Production Contracts, currently being the only program in Uruguay that covers the hydrocarbon Exploration and Production topic.
