The founder of a unique association of professors based in Paris has arrived in Darwin to give students and industry a “real life” perspective on oil and gas offshore production and exploration.
With more than 40 years of experience as a structural steel engineer and onshore and offshore civil engineer, Professor Alain Quenelle from the TOTAL Professors Association (TPA) is conducting a five-day course at Charles Darwin University.
“The TPA offers courses that aim to complement what the students are learning in their theoretical lectures,” Professor Quenelle said.
“It is very important that we transfer our knowledge and real life experiences as engineers in the oil and gas industry to the next generation hoping to start their careers.
“At the end of the course participants receive a certificate that can be used for recruitment purposes around the world.”
Professor Quenelle, who formed the TPA after he retired in 2001, said the organisation, which began with a group of 10 professors teaching oil and gas courses in France, now conducted courses in 55 countries around the world.
“After I retired I wanted to keep teaching and proposed the idea of the TPA to TOTAL,” Professor Quenelle said. “The TPA now has more than 270 professors with varying fields of expertise offering courses related to oil and gas.”
Professor Quenelle is the third TPA professor to visit CDU’s Casuarina campus to offer oil and gas related courses this year.
CDU Engineering lecturer and Deputy Director of the North Australian Centre for Oil and Gas Dr Daria Surovtseva said several courses related to project management of oil and gas projects would be delivered at CDU in 2013.
The TPA is a non-profit organisation, independent, but supported by the international oil and gas company TOTAL which has interests in the Northern Territory through its 30 per cent stake in the Ichthys LNG Project. For more information about the TPA visit: www.totalprof.com