One of the main, if not the main, concerns of the oil & gas industry has always been to ensure the safety of people and environment in its operations and in particular in drilling operations.
Dramatic accidents, such as the Macondo accident, showed that this concern is always relevant and cannot be ignored.
On a drilling rig, although safety is everyone's business, some people have a key role to play: this is the case of the operation geology specialists i.e. Wellsite Geologists, Data Engineers and Mud Loggers . Their ability to detect a potential problem during drilling operations and to take corrective action is critical.
This is why IFP Training , in narrow partnership with TOTAL ENERGIES , has set up certifications to ensure that these professionals have the proper knowledge, competencies and behavior in order to detect any operational issue at its early stage, undergo adequate action to solve it and avoid a possible dramatic situation on the rig. The certifications allow to identify possible gaps and to recommend training in order to fill in these gaps.
The SUBGEOL certification, dedicated to Wellsite Geologists but also Operations Geologists and other specialists, has now been running since 2017 while the MUDLOG certifications (one dedicated to Data Engineers and one dedicated to Mud Loggers ) have been running since 2019.
The certification is intended for operations geology professionals holding a university or equivalent degree/diploma in geology and justifying of a career path consistent with the objective of the certifications.
Typically candidates will have to justify of at least four (4) experiences on the rig for the SUBGEOL certification three (3) for the MUDLOG/ML certification and six (6) for the MUDLOG/DE certification.
Job positions that may be concerned by the certifications:
SUBGEOL:
MUDLOG option DE :
MUDLOG option ML :
The certifications are run fully remotely and are in two parts:
The Test is lasting from two hours (MUDLOG) to four hours (SUBGEOL) and cover a large variety of topics including Drilling; Mud Logging, Pore Pressure Evaluation, Wireline, Geosteering, MLWD, etc. Please refer to the dedicated page of each certification for more details.
The Individual Interview is lasting two hours for all the three certifications and cover topics like Basic Mathematics, HSE, Role & Responsibilities. It also includes a Situation Analysis. Please refer to the dedicated page of each certification for more details.
Combining the results of the Test and Individual Interview allows to determine if the candidate succeeded or failed. It is also possible for the candidate not to be certified but eligible for a re-sit Interview that is retaining the benefit of the results of the Test and just taking the Interview again.
The results are issued through a Certification Committee organized by IFP Training a few days after the session took place.