Chevron gives Midland College students a hands-on tour at Permian Basin Training Center

Chevron recently welcomed a dozen students from the Midland College Williams Regional Technical Training Center to its Midland Training Center.

The students are in Professor Wissam “Sam” Alakhtaby’s Petroleum Industry and Petroleum Instrumentation courses.  The WRTTC offers courses at its Fort Stockton campus to students there who are enrolled in Midland College’s Energy Technology program. Most of the students are earning dual credit while attending Fort Stockton High School.

At Professor Alakhtaby’s request, Chevron facilitated the Nov. 3 field trip. It consisted of a classroom presentation about the oil and gas industry, Chevron, the Permian Basin, and basic oil and gas production operations, followed by a tour of the training battery outside where they were able to see examples of the equipment they learned about in the classroom presentation.

Instructors Paige Redd and Forrest Redd led the presentation and tour.

Professor Alakhtaby and the students expressed gratitude for the experience, saying they found it a beneficial complement to their in-class studies.

“They asked great questions and seemed interested in working in our industry in the future. Who knows, maybe one of them will be working with us at Chevron someday.”

“They asked great questions and seemed interested in working in our industry in the future,” said Jonathan Harshman, public and government affairs advisor for Chevron’s Mid-Continent Business Unit. “Who knows, maybe one of them will be working with us at Chevron someday.”

The WRTTC has a longstanding partnership with Chevron, which donates annually to a Fund that provides scholarships to students. Chevron has additionally invested $150,000 over the last five years into a separate MC scholarship fund.

MC has also developed strong partnerships with other area oil and gas companies, with the aim of prepping local students for high-demand energy industry jobs in the Permian Basin. The partnerships bring students immersive training, scholarships and equipment, Pete Avalos, chair of MC Energy, Auto and Diesel Technology, stated in an article last year titled The Impact of a Strong Industry Partnership.

“Oil and gas companies are always on the lookout for highly skilled talent when looking to fill open positions,” Avalos said. He added that MC “is the gateway for these employers in being able to provide an employee with a fundamentally strong base.”

“We are extremely fortunate to be in the Permian Basin,” he said. “We are here to support each other for the long haul.”

To learn more about MC’s Energy Technology programs, other technical programs, and how to enroll, go here. To learn more about WRTTC, go here.