Investor Updates
General Electric opens oil and gas skills centre in Perth
28 November 2012
General Electric (GE), a multi-services company based in Connecticut, United States, has opened a technology and learning centre to support the oil and gas industry in Perth, Western Australia.
The new Skills and Development Centre based in Jandakot, Perth is the largest complex of its kind in Australia and was opened by Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.
Dan Heintzelman, president and CEO of GE Oil & Gas, said Perth was now the regional hub for the global company, supplying best-in-class technology and industry expertise to build and equip mega-resource projects in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.
“In collaboration with the Australian government and private sector, we are making a significant investment in skills and development training to help address the Australian skills shortage,” Mr Heintzelman said.
“These types of investments are helping to make Australia a world leader not only in production, but in oil and gas talent and expertise as well.”
The centre will provide accredited training to more than 300 people a year, across a range of sectors in which GE works, including oil and gas, healthcare, power generation, mining and transportation.
It features state-of-the-art classrooms and an experimental workshop that provides students with a hands-on learning environment. Companies involved include Chevron, Woodside, Conoco Phillips and Navitas.
The Jandakot facility is part of a regionalisation approach that GE is deploying around the world, with major technology and service centres in other locations including Brazil and the Middle East.
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