São Paulo – It did not take chemical engineer Geisa de Magalhães Albuquerque Palhares more than a month to get a new job after a break of about a year, taken to dedicate herself to her family. “I talked to some friends and within 30 days I had a job again, working for a company that provides third-party services to Petrobras,” she explains. “The industry is booming and the company is hiring engineers in all fields,” she claims. “When I was in college, back in the early 2000s, things were different”, she says. Geisa’s employability reflects the good moment that the Brazilian oil industry is experiencing. It is also proof that for these professionals, the labour market is growing and will tend to grow further over the next few years.
Still in college, attending a course in Petroleum Engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), student Talles do Couto Lemgruber Kropf shares the same enthusiasm about his career as the engineer who got a new job in a month. Aside from having an “affinity with the exact sciences,” Kropf decided to work with the black gold because of the myriad opportunities that the sector offers these days. “I researched the types of engineering that were in the order of the day and those that offered the best job opportunities and courses overseas. I really enjoy travelling and I wanted to combine that with my job,“ she explains.
Kropf made the right choice. “I was approved in Petrobras’ latest civil service examination for oil engineers and now I am waiting to be called in,” he says. “I intend to work with wells, which I consider to be dynamical and practical. I want to work offshore, despite all the adversities,” he plans.
To the UFRJ Petroleum Engineering course coordinator, Alexandre Leiras, youths such as Kropf really do have good reasons to be enthusiastic about the profession. “Nearly all of the students who have graduated with us are working,” he explains. According to Leiras, ever since the graduation course was inaugurated, in 2004, the demand has been at 25 candidates per position. “An average of 20 petroleum engineers graduate with us each year, out 30 who enrol,” he says. The reasons for such demand include the fact that the course is regarded as one of the best of its field in the country. “At the last evaluation of the Ministry of Education, we were graded 5 out of 5! We are a reference,” claims Leiras.
Training to specialists
In order to better supply a market whose demand for specialists is stronger and stronger, the Centre for Geosciences Applied to Petroleum (Unespetro) has been established by means a partnership between Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) and Petrobras, at the campus of the teaching institution in Rio Claro, in the interior of the state of São Paulo.
The new unit covers an area of 2,000 square metres and received an initial investment of 10.5 million reals (US$ 6.4 million) for construction of the building and purchase of equipment and furniture. Of that sum, 9.2 million reals (US$ 5.6 million) came from the Petrobras Technological Network, and 1.3 million reals (US$ 793,000) were supplied by the Unesp.
“We offer courses for students (graduate and postgraduate) and continuing education programmes for professionals. These courses are linked to agreements that the UNESP maintains with the National Petroleum Agency (ANP, in the Portuguese acronym) and Petrobras,” explains the Unespetro programme coordinator and Unesp professor, Dimas Dias Brito.
According to Brito, the Unespetro is an important effort in training specialized labour force for the industry. “We provide greater integration between academia and the industrial sector, a better research infrastructure, a supply of more advanced courses and financial support to students in the form of scholarships,” he explains.
To the professor, there are openings for both “experienced professionals who possess good knowledge of the profession” and “new talents.” If the career in question is geologist, the demand is even greater. “There is a lack of young geologists on the market. This is seen primarily in the field of petroleum geology,” he says. “Students barely finish their course and are absorbed by companies. This is even being reflected in postgraduate programmes, which are having problems retaining students,” he says.
From rigs to hotels
In 2006, aiming to increase the qualification of sector professionals, the Programme for Mobilization of the National Oil Industry (Prominp) was created. It is a federal government initiative coordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and sponsored by Petrobras, among other organizations.
“Our courses and training encompass more than 185 professional categories,” explains the executive coordinator of the Prominp, José Renato Ferreira de Almeida. “We work with labour force turned to security, the environment, healthcare, planning, supplies and the hotel industry, for example,” he says.
Aside from covering various sectors, the Prominp aims to remain attuned to the needs of the sector. “We investigate the gaps in training and organize our actions,” claims Almeida.
Thus, courses are offered to professionals in the basic, medium, technical and higher levels whose activities are somehow related to oil and gas. Unemployed students are granted monthly allowances ranging from 300 to 900 Brazilian reals (US$ 183 to US$ 549), depending on the level of the course. To that end, agreements have been signed with 80 teaching institutions in 17 different states of Brazil. “We have already trained 78,000 people and will train another 212,000 by 2014,” explains Almeida.
To those interested in joining the ranks, the Prominp coordinator informs that a new public selection process will be held for the courses before the end of the year. The information will be disclosed on the programme website (www.prominp.com.br).
Another good tip: among the categories for which demand should boom even further, Almeida highlights the work of rig operators. “The country’s rig fleet is growing non-stop and there is a shortage of people to operate the equipment,” he says. “The best thing about it is that the oil and gas industry offers possibilities to people of absolutely all backgrounds,” he guarantees.
It is hard to dispute his claim in a scenario where, in 2011 alone, Petrobras forecasts investment of US$ 93 billion. The oil company’s 2010-2014 business plan provides for US$ 224 billion in oil production worldwide. And it should employ professionals from all fields, directly or indirectly.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
