A Towering Training Tool Arrives, Wellfield-Tested and Workforce-Ready

Published 03.12.2014

News
Workforce Development

Barely a week from field service, a newly sandblasted and painted wellhead arrives at the Center for Business & Workforce Development. Among those on hand for the special delivery are (at right) General Services custodian Jeff G. Rotoli; Daniel R. Mendell, ShaleNET U.S. consultant/instructor; and (in checkered shirt) John F. Strittmatter, director of the ShaleNET U.S. regional hub.Facilities supervisor Barry L. Loner Jr. begins offloading the heavy cargo via lift truck.A contingent of General Services workers guides one of the pieces to its destination on the south side of the BWD.The assembled wellhead rises about 12 feet from the laboratory floor.A full-size natural gas wellhead has been donated to ShaleNET U.S. and installed in an electronics and computer engineering technology classroom on Penn College's main campus. A partnership of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and FMC Technologies resulted in Monday's delivery to the college's Center for Business & Workforce Development, where the equipment will be used by the ShaleNET U.S. regional hub in training for occupations in the oil and natural gas industry. Fully spruced up for instructional use, the wellhead arrived in five pieces: more than two tons of steel that, until recently, was at work in the field. After a requisite safety briefing, Penn College General Services and Allison Crane & Rigging assisted in the unloading, transport and assembly– a process that FMC's John Amburgey called "big-boy Legos."