Technology Cooperation and Capacity Building - CommDev

TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING… Case Study NinePT Caltex Pacific IndonesiaSkilled analysts study results from ‘logging tools’, which entails loweringsensitive electronic monitoring devices into wells to obtain informationabout underground geological formations. PT Caltex Pacific Indonesiaemployees receive an average of 110 hours training a year.horizontal drilling to reduce the need for road and siteclearings, and conducting carefully designed seismic surveys.The company and its shareholders are involved in manyinitiatives to study and safeguard tropical rain forests and theirunique flora and fauna. In 1979, CPI petitioned theGovernment of Indonesia to make the Zamrud Lakes, whichrest on top of an important oil discovery, a nature reserve.Today, CPI uses directional drilling to tap the oil field fromonshore. Other initiatives include support for a biodiversityproject on the island of Sulawesi, a rain forest exhibit andanimal hospital at the Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta, rain foreststudies by experts from the New York Botanical Gardens inIndonesia, a clinic for rehabilitating orangutans in Kalimantanand global conferences in Indonesia on safeguarding great apes(1991), preserving rain forests (1993), and protecting theenvironment (1994). In 1991, CPI’s shareholders were keycontributors in developing the Oil Industry Operating Guidelinefor Tropical Rain Forests (published by E&P Forum).Human resource developmentFormer US Ambassador to Indonesia, Paul Wolfowitz, oncecalled CPI ‘a very big university on a vast campus,’ inrecognition of its commitment to training. This is reflectedby the small number of expatriate employees seconded fromits shareholders. In 1951, 200 of CPI’s 1400 employees werefrom its shareholding companies. Today, there are only some125 non-Indonesians out of a total CPI workforce of 6400.Nearly all CPI senior and intermediate managementpositions are held by Indonesians.CPI conducts a wide range of programmes to teachemployees basic skills, technical expertise and managementdevelopment. In 1993, for example, CPI employees received700 000 hours of training, an average of 110 training hoursper employee. CPI has been a leader in innovating suchprogrammes as ‘hot line’ maintenance training, whichenables its technicians to repair electrical cables withoutdisrupting the power supply to local oilfields. Its expatriatenationalmentor system has promoted technology transferthrough special training. For example, skills acquired bynational professionals in operating state-of-the-art 3-D and4-D seismic technology have become important resources forfinding new hydrocarbon reserves.In 1993, 25 CPI employees took part in on-the-jobtraining programmes in the United States, Canada, Australiaand the United Kingdom in a number of disciplines,including exploration, construction, petroleum engineering,drilling, computers, finance, accounting, human resources andexternal relations. Chevron and Texaco also host a number oftechnical visits by CPI employees to their facilities every year.Increasingly, training is from one Indonesian to another,often from one generation to another, sometimes in thesame family. Many CPI professionals, such as seniorengineers and senior geologists, are second generation CPIemployees. Their fathers may have been clerks or fieldlabourers when CPI resumed operations after WorldWar II. Educational scholarships for employees and their‘Technology coooperation between oil companies within andoutside Indonesia has significantly improved the managerial andoperational capabilities of Indonesians over the past two decades.’‘Technology transfer and cooperation has been an effective wayof achieving mutual goals and benefits for both the Indonesiangovernment and for the oil companies.’‘Cooperation based on mutual benefit and trust has resulted inconsiderable cost reduction, and the effective, efficient and timelycompletion of many projects.’Ir Soepraptono Soeleiman,Expert Staff, Earth, Oil and Gas, Department of Mines and Energy,Secretary, Pertamina Board of Commissioners48