IATMI, an international circle of Indonesian petroleum engineers, has reached a three-fold growth membership in the region after establishing its Middle East chapter last year, a senior officer said.

An increase of 50-150% of registered members in the region particularly UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait was registered in the last 10 months since IATMI Middle East was set up in April 2007 according to Rini Soegiyono, chairperson for IATMI Middle East Chapter.

Most members of the non-profit, volunteer-based organisation are affiliated with more than 40 different oil and gas companies across the region in various sectors such as petroleum engineering, G&G, and other areas such as finance, human resources, HSE, project management, cost engineering, and more.

“On the second year we expect to increase the membership by 25% to balance our focus on improving the quality of the programme for the benefit of these members,” Soegiyono told Pipeline during the society’s first anniversary function held at the Schlumberger Middle East Learning Centre in Abu Dhabi.

Indonesian petroleum engineers currently ranks second most recruited personnel in the institution which follows after UK-based engineers.

Currently there are more than 600 Indonesian petroleum engineers or petro-technical experts residing in the region, added Soegiyono, who is also affiliated with Schlumberger.

During her keynote speech, she stressed that there is a ‘need to shift the labour market to where the oil is.’

She explained its role in building and maintaining a strong membership base, creating program and activities that provides networking opportunities and synergy among the oil and gas industry components, and at the same time improving technical competency and reliability among its members.

“Our vision is to lead and actively participate in overcoming industry challenges by improving our professionalism and technical competency, promoting a collaborative network and knowledge sharing environment, and adapting new technology to optimize production and increasing reservoir values,” Soegiyono said.

The Jakarta-based society branched out with three overseas chapters in Kuala Lumpur, Houston, and the Middle East where it covers ten countries with 11 domestic chapters across Indonesia .

IATME or Society of Indonesian Petroleum Engineers, has been assertively adopting SPE Standards on Professional Engineering Competency Matrices and Best Practices for developing, classifying and recommending ‘verifiability’ of its membership.

Their regular activity in the region includes knowledge-sharing forums, with interactive mail-based discussions as the sharing portal. IATMI also facilitates keynote lectures with key universities and petroleum institutions in the region.

The group’s interest is focused on exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies, as well as business and personal development.

“We’re focusing on developing people’s competencies, with reference to their knowledge, skills and attitude,” said Kuswo Wahyono, President, IATMI. He hailed the IATMI Middle East chapter as a representation of Indonesian oil and gas professionals in the region.

IATMI as a society now receives proper recognition from the local or provincial manpower offices in Indonesia to international or multi-national employers in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Far East (Asean).

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