Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online

Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill. Photo by Michelle Zinchuk

At the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show, Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill announced a new Grade 11 and 12 Oil and Gas course will be available online through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre. Teine Energy has provided $150,000 to support this initiative.

The first Grade 11 level class, Oil and Gas 20, will be offered in January, 2025.

The columnists with the Leader-Post and StarPhoenix were aghast that the oil and gas sector would have input into crafting a course. To hell with them. This is an opportunity.

I don’t know if they’ve nailed down the curriculum yet, but based on the idea that there’s still time to mould this thing, I got together with a few guys this past week and pounded out a rough outline of what we think should be in the courses, focusing on upstream oil and gas production in Saskatchewan.

Brian Crossman of Independent Well Servicing and Colan Trail of Burgess Creek Exploration are the co-authors.

To be clear, this is unsolicited. The Ministry of Education did not ask for or procure this. But I think we, as an industry, should offer our best advice of what would be useful in these new classes. And to show my dedication to this, my son, who is going into Grade 12, will likely be one of the first students.

I’ve circulated this outline around to a few people since then, and had made a few modifications. This is where you come in. I’m looking for input, either in comments, additions or even subtractions. Please email me anything you’ve got to brian.zinchuk@pipelineonline.ca. If we want to get this in while there’s still time to adapt the course, we need to get it in right away. So I’d like to have this sorted out in about a week, at which point I will send it directly to the Minister of Education. The more names I can add as collaborators, the better this looks. So, please, take a few minutes, contribute and let me add you to the list.

As I point out in the outline, “Every single line here is another type of job in the oilfield. And each one of those is an opportunity. And many of those jobs are needing to be filled.”

Any help would be appreciated.

Please note, this is still a rough draft. The formatting isn’t perfect. But it’s a start. And I may make changes online as comments come in.

Also, some might feel this is way too detailed. Remember, there are 100 hours of instruction per grade level, or 200 hours in total between 20 and 30. In making the announcement, the education minister said they intend on half of that time in the field. Most I have spoken to so far suggested that part of that field time should be dedicated to the required safety courses – H2S Alive, Standard First Aid, WHMIS, before these students are taken into the field.

This still leaves about 100 hours of online class instruction between the two grade levels. Some of these points in this outline might only warrant a paragraph or two. Some might be a full lesson. But the intent here is to cover a broad spectrum of what is actually happening in the Saskatchewan oilfield, and the thousands of jobs available.

With that, take a look, and if you have anything to add, please email it in the next few days so I can submit this to the Ministry of Education.

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0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
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0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
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0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
0022 Grimes winter hiring
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0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
0011
0006 JK Junior
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9001

Suggested Curriculum for Saskatchewan

Oil and Gas 20 and 30 classes

Brian Zinchuk, Pipeline Online

Brian Crossman, Independent Well Servicing

Colan Trail, Burgess Creek Exploration, et al

July, 2024

VER 1.0.1

DRAFT

What is oil and gas
- What is Oil and Gas used for: Refinery gasoline for automobiles, oil for engines and gearboxes, grease for bearings, plastic, petrochemicals, etc.
- World Demand for oil and gas and will it be needed into the future? (yes)
- Will I have a job in the future?
How is oil and gas made
Where is it
- Geographically in Saskatchewan
- Geologically in Saskatchewan
Oilfield Glossary – https://glossary.slb.com/ – so students can reference terms used later
Leading indicators (Do I buy a truck or sell my quad?
- Oil prices
  - West Texas Intermediate
  - Western Canadian Select
  - Brent
  - Explanation of differentials between various oil prices.
- Gas prices
  - AECO
  - Henry Hub
- Land sales
  - Crown
  - Freehold
- Drilling rig count
Heavy vs medium vs light oil
- Explanation of oil types and location
  - Heavy oil (northwest)
    - Thermal development
    - Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)
    - Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand (CHOPS)
    - Generally trucked, not pipelined
  - Medium oil (southwest, southeast)
    - Generally pipelined once tied in
  - Light oil (west central, southeast)
    - Generally pipelined once tied in
  - Differences in oil production

Safety training (the safety training courses with a * should be right up front, and offered in-person as part of the 50 hours in-person segment, a requirement to go on site)
- H2S Alive*
- Standard First Aid*
- WHMIS*
- Transportation of Dangerous Goods
- Enbridge’s Where Do I Stand program
- Powered Mobile Equipment
- Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
- Powered mobile equipment/human interface (pinch points, etc.)
- Slips, trips, falls
- Company orientation example
- Site-specific orientation example
- Toolbox safety meeting example
- In-field medic
- Three rights:
  - Right to know
  - Right to participate
  - Right to refuse unsafe work
- Where do you find safety standards and applicable legislations
- Certificate of Recognition (13 domains)
- Emergency Response Plan, understanding what it is and how to implement
  - Practice emergency response

Geology
- Basic sedimentary geology
- Core
- Logs
- Geophysical
  - Seismic Survey
- 3D modelling
Land assembly
- Crown land sales
- Freehold
- Land agents
- Royalty rates
- Bonus
- Leases and rights-of-way
Environmental
- Initial survey
- Archeology
- Impact assessment
- Ongoing monitoring
- Spill reaction
- Reclamation (Certificate of reclamation)
Survey
- Land surveyor
- Field survey
- Dominion land survey explanation, how to determine LSD location, i.e. 16-2-3-5-W2
- GPS
- Line locating
Lease building
- Dirt moving operations
  - Clearing
  - Soil separation
  - Levelling
  - Lease road construction
  - Hydrovac
  - Rathole

Dirt moving
- Equipment
  - Dozer
  - Excavator
  - Backhoe
  - Scraper
  - Skidsteer
  - Front-end loader
  - Grader

Trucking
- Class 1A, 3A, 1G, etc. training
- Gravel/dirt
- Pipe
- Fluid hauling – oil, water, emulsion
- Rig moving
- Hotshot
- Picker
- Bed truck
- Winch truck
- Lowboy
- Flat deck
- “Body job”
- Frac
- Service Rig
- Truck sales
- Heavy duty repair and maintenance (mechanics)
Drilling Rigs
- How they function
  - Derrick
  - Mud, its operation and function
  - Directional drilling and survey
  - Bits
- Basic operation
  - Well design
    - Vertical
    - Horizontal
    - Multi-lateral
  - Components
    - Substructure
    - Derrick
    - Combo building
    - Mud pumps
    - Mud tank
    - Doghouse/water tank
    - Flare tank
    - Catwalk
    - Boiler
    - Centrifuge
    - Shale bins
    - Blowout Preventer System (BOPS)
    - Drill string
    - Bottom hole assembly
    - Communications (satellite)
  - Positions
    - Roughneck
    - Motor hand
    - Derrick hand
    - Driller
    - Rig manager/Tool push
  - Wellsite Supervisor/Consultant/Company man
  - Directional driller
  - Measure while drilling (survey)
  - Bit man
  - Mud man
  - Water hauler
  - Vac operator
  - Shacks
  - Rentals (tanks, etc.
  - Underbalance drilling
  - Invert drilling
  - Fishing
  - Cementing
  - Casing/Power tongs

Completions – Service Rig
- How they function
- Basic operation
- Components
  - Service Rig
  - Pump truck
  - Iron truck
  - Catwalk
  - BOPS
  - Downhole tools
- Positions
  - Roughneck (floor hand)
  - Derrick hand
  - Driller/Operator
  - Rig manager/Tool push
  - Wellsite Supervisor/Consultant/Company man
- Tubing
  - Tubing inspection
- Sucker rod
- Co-rod
- Fishing
- Wireline
  - Logging
  - Cement bond logs
  - Perforation/explosives
  - Fishing

Hydraulic fracturing and stimulation
- Chemistry and chemicals
- Water
  - Sourcing
  - Hauling – truck or pipe
  - Tankage
- Sand
  - Hauling
  - Storage
- Pumping
- Blending
- Coil Tubing
- Picker/Cranes
- Other types of frac
  - Propane
  - Natural gas
  - N2, etc.
- Acid stimulation
Oilfield construction
- Dirt moving
- Skid fabrication
- Oilfield prefab buildings
- Piling
  - Driven piles
  - Screw piles
- Pipe racks and utilidors
- Pipefitting
- Welding (Pressure B, fabrication, stainless)
- Wellheads
- Pumpjack and other artificial lift assembly
- Weed control
- Electrical
- Instrumentation/metering
- Turnarounds/maintenance
- Security
Oilfield maintenance
- Field operator
- Crew truck
- Picker
- Knuckle picker
- Hydrovac
- Vac
- Flushby
- Rod rig
- Pumpjack maintenance
- Welding/pipe fitting
- SCADA/monitoring/alerts
- Fire suppression
- Chemical (anti-corrosion, wax, etc)
- Bio control/biocide (H2S)
Pipelining (Flowline)
- Right of way
- Ditch
- Pipe
  - Fibreglass
  - Welded steel
  - Backfill
  - Cleanup

Artificial lift
- Pumpjack
  - insert rod pump
- Progressing cavity pump (screw pump)
- Electric submersible pump (ESP)
- Rotoflex (strap jack)
- Hydraulic jack
- Jet pump
- Variable frequency drive (VFD) for the above
- Pump-off controller
- Well optimization – testing /pump card
Battery (in field oil processing)
- Flow line into battery
- Separator
- Free Water Knockout
- Test separator
- “Three phase”
- Tanks
- Vapour Recovery Unit (VRU)
- Electrical
- SCADA
- Inspection (Xray, ultrasound, boiler branch (TSask))
Disposal/Waste
- Water disposal well
  - Horizontal pumping system (HPS)
  - Fluid hauling
- Solid waste
  - Vac truck
  - Industrial landfill
  - Storage caverns

Natural Gas processing
- Basic principles
- Products
  - Methane (dry natural gas)
  - Natural gas liquids
    - Ethane
    - Propane
    - Butane
    - Isobutane
    - Pentane
    - Pentanes plus
  - Flowline (gas)
  - Gas plants
    - Operation
      - Maintenance
      - Turnarounds
    - Components
      - Fractionation tower
      - Cooling
      - Amines
      - Pressure vessels
      - Flare
      - Storage bullets
      - Compressor
      - Pipelines
      - Pipe racks
    - Sales
      - Pipeline (TransGas)
      - Truck
      - Rail
      - Storage caverns

Reclamation and abandonment
- Service rig
- Cementing
- Dirt work
- Welding
- Landfill
- Environmental assessment leading to certificate of reclamation
Miscellaneous services the oilpatch can’t do without
- Fuel delivery
- Insurance
- Accommodations
- Food (restaurants, supermarkets, corner stores, coffee shops)
- Supply stores (rope, soap and dope)
- Machining
- Fabrication and welding
- Hydraulics
- Heavy equipment sales and maintenance
- Truck sales and maintenance
- Light vehicle sales and maintenance
- Electrical
- Instrumentation
- Plow trenching
- Communications (cellular, satellite, radio)
- Drug testing
- Counselling
- Industry associations
- Conferences and trade shows
  - Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show (Weyburn)
  - Lloydminster Heavy Oil Show
  - Williston Basin Petroleum Conference
- Recreation and oilfield community
  - Golf tournaments
  - Curling bonspiels
  - Trap shooting

Regulatory (Ministry of Energy and Resources)
- Land tenure
- IRIS
- Field staff and offices
- Saskatchewan Geologic Survey, subsurface laboratory (core lab)
- First Nations consultation, duty to consult
Midstream (Pipelines and gathering systems)
- Pipeline gathering
  - Flowline to battery
  - Sales line from battery to terminal
  - Terminals to gathering system (i.e. Westspur)
  - Pipeline to mainline (Enbridge Cromer)
  - Mainline to market
- Pipeline construction
  - See above
- Export pipelines
  - Enbridge Mainline Pipeline
  - Keystone Pipeline
  - Trans Mountain Pipeline
  - TC Energy Mainline
  - Alliance Pipeline
- Crude-by-rail
- Major oil terminals
  - Cromer
  - Kerrobert
  - Hardisty
  - Superior, Wisconsin
  - Cushing, Oklahoma
  - Gulf Coast
  - Burnaby, B.C.

Downstream (Refining, international export)
- Refineries and upgraders
  - Regina Consumers Cooperative Refinery
  - Moose Jaw Refinery
  - Lloydminster Upgrader
  - Lloydminster Asphalt Refinery
- Upgrader operations
- ????Need more detail here????
- Maintenance/Turnarounds
- Refinery operation
- ????Need more detail here????
- Maintenance/Turnarounds
Downstream – final consumption
- Fuel
  - Distribution
    - Bulk fuel
    - Commercial sales
    - Retail sales (gas stations)
  - NGLs
    - Propane
    - Butane, etc.
  - Petrochemicals
    - Processing (Alberta)
    - Plastics
    - Drugs, etc.

Corporate
- C-suite roles in oil companies
  - Chief executive officer (CEO)/president
  - Chief operating officer/vice president operations
  - Chief financial officer/vice president finance
  - Vice president land
  - Vice president exploration (geology)
- Administration
  - Head office and field office admin
  - Payroll
  - Accounts payable
  - Accounts receivable
  - Production accounting
  - Procurement/supply chain
  - Safety coordinator
  - Certificate of Recognition (COR)
  - Legal
- Financial – getting the money for all of this
  - Equity markets
  - Debt financing
  - Cashflow
- Insurance
- Government relations
Related industries using oilfield services and technology
- Geothermal heating/power generation
- Solution potash mining
- Helium
- Lithium brine

0081 OSY 2024 hockey draft
0081 OSY 2024 hockey draft
0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years
0080 Turnbull Clarence 25 years
0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
0076 Latus only
0076 Latus only
0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
0022 Grimes winter hiring
0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
0011
0006 JK Junior
0002 gilliss casing services
0002 gilliss casing services
9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
9001

Crowdsourcing a curriculum for the new Oil & Gas 20 and 30 high school classes

Suggested Curriculum for Saskatchewan

Oil and Gas 20 and 30 classes

DRAFT

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