Employees of McDermott Caspian Contractors, Inc. (McDermott) became the first Azerbaijani nationals to gain internationally recognized saturation diving qualifications after completion of a special training course abroad. The training was arranged by McDermott through funding from the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), Trend reports.
The four divers have been working with the McDermott diving team onboard the diving support vessel Akademik Tofig Ismayilov (DSV) since commencement of the vessel's operations in May 2005 on the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field.
These employees are the first Azerbaijani nationals to gain full international HSE qualifications as either offshore air divers or as saturation divers, commented Dan Houser, General Manager and Vice President, Caspian Operations. As a demonstration of our and AIOC's commitment to integration and training of the national work force, four Azerbaijan divers were sent to an upgrade course in the UK. The modern diving industry is in particular need of younger divers with high qualification, and we are very pleased to see the success of this initiative. The divers are now fully integrated into the DSV saturation diving team and will be actively involved in operations which the DSV will perform for AIOC's and SOCAR's pipeline installation projects commencing in 2007.