16:02 - 6.04.2018

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BP and its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), Shah Deniz, and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) projects – SOCAR, TPAO, PETRONAS, Chevron, LUKOIL, NICO, Statoil, INPEX, ExxonMobil, SGC, ITOCHU, ONGC, TOTAL, Eni – today celebrated the fifth graduation of the School of Project Management (SPM). In an event hosted today by SOCAR’s Baku Higher Oil School, some 52 graduates received the globally-recognized certification of “Master’s Certificate in Project Management”, awarded by the George Washington University.

The SPM was established by the co-venturers in the BP-operated ACG, BTC, Shah Deniz and SCP projects, in January 2011 as part of their commitment to supporting the country’s capacity-building efforts. 

The project has been implemented in phases. One of the objectives set at the start of the project was to hand over the delivery of the training programme to national instructors. The SPM achieved this goal during Phase 4 with the full transition of the training programme to the local staff.  The entire training staff of the SPM are now nationals. 

Phase 4, which started in 2017, was implemented by Twenty Eighty Strategy Execution in partnership with SOCAR’s Baku Higher Oil School. The SPM has now entered its next self-sustaining phase and is managed by Baku Higher Oil School in collaboration with Twenty Eighty Strategy Execution – an international project management training and solutions company. 

The SPM is designed to develop the project management capability of individuals in both private and public sectors, by providing globally-recognized, comprehensive project management training. It focuses on the simultaneous goals of improving immediate project management performance and establishing long-term project management capability in the country. This year’s graduates represent organisations from a wide range of public and private sectors including the government, oil and gas, insurance, construction and education.

The curriculum consists of seven modules - Managing Projects, Project Leadership, Management and Communication, Risk Management, Scheduling and Cost Control, Quality for Project Managers, Project Management Applications, and Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam Preparation.

SPM key facts since the start:  

• Total spent to date (2011-2018): over $2 million (by the co-venturers in the BP-operated ACG, BTC, Shah Deniz and SCP projects)
• Total participants: 377
• Total Associates certificates awarded: 357
• Total Master’s certificates awarded: 334
• Organizations represented: 141