The northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco is offering since Friday, October 28, the first Brazilian professional post-graduate course in management of oil and gas. Professionals from four states in the northeast – Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte and Sergipe – will be able to attend the lessons.
The vice president of the Regional Economics Council, Leonardo Farias, stated that the announcement of installation of an oil refinery in Suape Port, in the state of Pernambuco, with investment by Brazilian oil giant Petrobras and PDVSA, the Venezuelan state run oil company, helped spur the creation of this course.
"It is necessary to gain time. We must prepare local professionals to reduce the need for specialists from the southeast of the country once a qualified work force has been generated," he said.
The post-graduate course, to last 18 months, received investment of around US$ 350,000 from the Brazilian Center of Professional Training (CBPE). Among the themes to be covered in the lessons are environmental management in the oil industry, logistics, foreign business, chemistry of oil, legislation, market planning and perspectives for expansion of the sector in Pernambuco and Brazil.
According to figures supplied by the National Organization of Oil Industries (ONIP), Brazil should become self-sufficient in oil and gas production in 2006.
Agência Brasil
