OPAL gets licence for first SSU in Oman

Occupational Standards Centre (OSC) under the Ministry of Manpower on Sunday issued a licence to Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL) for establishing a first-of-its-kind sector skills unit (SSU) for the oil and gas sector in Oman.

The licence was issued at a ceremony held at Ministry of Manpower premises, OSC said in a press statement.

The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Oil and Gas, Tanfeedh committee members, industry experts from leading oil and gas companies and officials from the OSC and OPAL.

“This licence is the first-of-itskind in the sultanate, and aims to prepare the entities establishing stage, representative of the various economic sectors, to assume responsibility for monitoring the structure and needs of the labour market in each sector, and translating them into knowledge products that align education and training outcomes with these needs,” the statement said.

Dr Mohamad al Najjar, director of OSC, said, “Developing an industry-ready local workforce is of utmost importance for the success of Omanisation efforts. OSC will be regulating the development of the National Occupational Standards and its applications through SSUs to align the skill development efforts in the sultanate to meet industry demands.”

H E Salim bin Nasser al Aufi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Gas, said, “The establishment of an SSU for the oil and gas sector comes in line with the directions of the development programme of the In-country value committee supervised by the Ministry of Oil and Gas.”