Petroleum Institute for Cape Breton

The Nova Scotia and federal governments will join forces to support the emerging petroleum industry on Cape Breton Island.

Petroleum Directorate Minister Manning MacDonald has announced $450,000 to train Nova Scotians in advanced instrumentation skills. The money comes from the Canada/Nova Scotia COOPERATION Agreement on Economic Diversification. In addition, Enterprise Cape Breton Corp. is providing $220,000 to assist with the purchase of equipment for a new instrumentation lab and other assistance, announced Keith Brown, ECBC vice-president.

"Nova Scotia's burgeoning energy sector needs highly trained people to fill the jobs it is creating, and one of the skills most in demand is advanced instrumentation expertise," Mr. MacDonald said at a news conference today on the Marconi Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, where the training will take place.

The Marconi Campus will begin offering the advanced diploma program in instrumentation engineering technology in September 2000. The one-year program, the first of its kind in Nova Scotia, will provide students with a thorough understanding of the process variables and controls related to the petroleum industry.

In addition, the combination of the funding by the federal and provincial governments has enabled the Marconi Campus to establish the Petroleum Institute. The centre will house the new instrumentation lab and programs such as the instrumentation engineering technology and power engineering.

"Education and training are key components to economic development," said Dr. Brown, speaking on behalf of Fred Mifflin, Minister responsible for ECBC. "People must have the skills necessary to be a part of an ever-changing economy. The federal government, through the COOPERATION agreement and ECBC, is pleased to be working with its partners to ensure that the necessary training is made available to those who want to be a part of the oil and gas and petrochemicals industry."

Ray Ivany, president of the Nova Scotia Community College, said:
"The college has one foot in the present and one foot in the future, by leading the way in developing educational programs that the petroleum industry requires. We as a province must develop a particular knowledge, technology and expertise as a result of offshore gas, all of which we will be able to export, in turn, to the next country that will benefit from gas coming ashore."

The petroleum sector and trade unions have identified instrumentation technology as an area needing immediate allocation of training resources.

"As the petroleum industry expands in Nova Scotia, there will be more and more need for people with these specialized skills," said Mr. MacDonald.

One example of where instrumentation is a required skill is in petroleum-plant operations. Later this year, two such facilities will open: the natural gas plant at Goldboro and a gas fractionation facility at Point Tupper. The private sector is also proceeding with plans to build a petrochemical plant at the Strait of Canso. Other industries are also expected to send students to the program to fill the gap for skilled people in the instrumentation field.

"This is an investment in the future," Mr. MacDonald told those attending the announcement. "The offshore will have a positive impact in Cape Breton and all parts of Nova Scotia. This funding will provide people with the training that they need to get the jobs that the offshore is creating."