New SAGD program at Portage to fill gap in industry

Portage College is launching a new program this fall, and, with so many opportunities in Alberta's oil sands, educators at Portage say the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Oper ator program will offer the skills to serve a specific niche in what is now an emerging and lucrative industry.

The program was developed in coordination with industry insiders who were looking for more specialized knowledge and skills in employees than current programs were able to provide.

"The industry initially requested we develop this program," said Felicity Bergman, PR and Marketing Manager with Community and Industry Training Initia tives (CiTi) at the college. "We developed this course side-by-side to fill a gap for them."

There are three components in the 10-month, on-line program. Students will receive the essential Power Engineering 4th Class curriculum that is required knowledge for a number of careers in the oil field, as well as the more specialized curriculum for Water/Waste water Operation and Water and Process Treatment for Thermal Heavy Oil.

"Students will be getting their Power En ginee ring certificate as well as getting their SAGD operator certificate. That's exactly why the industry came to us. They needed new hires with more in-depth knowledge of the operations on their facilities from the get-go," Bergman explained.

The SAGD extraction process gets at oil previously inaccessible using traditional methods. With this new technology, two horizontal wells are drilled into the oil sand formation deep beneath the earth's surface, and highly pressurized steam is injected into the first well, softening the bitumen-crude oil-allowing it to flow into the lower well, where it can then be drawn up to the surface.

Because the process uses a great deal of water-90 per cent of which is required to be recycled by law-a program like the SAGD Operator, with its focus on the industry's water usage practises, produces graduates with the knowledge to immediately ply their specialized trade in the workplace with little additional on-the-job training by their employers, says Bergman.

In fact, the college did a pilot program of the water treatment portion of the curriculum this past winter with a cohort of SAGD operators already at work in the industry, to vet the new curriculum.

"They really enjoyed it and found it worthwhile," said Lindsay Johnson, Water Re sources Manager with the college.

"We got resoundingly positive feedback from the students. They thought the detailed operating procedures they learned would further their careers significantly."

In turn, the pilot "students", who already had a valuable working knowledge of the industry, gave instructors feedback on ways to improve the program itself, further streamlining the specialized program.

When asked about the worth of a program like this, Johnson said the need for skilled SAGD operators is already strong, and that it will only continue to grow.

"There are a great number of jobs in and around Lac La Biche and Cold Lake," she said. "And there are more and more plants being commissioned that will need to be staffed fully. There are going to be a lot of future jobs in this field."

The new program was officially unveiled at the Portage College Golf Fundraiser this past weekend.