by Kimberly Quillen, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday December 03, 2008, 5:45 PM
Shell Exploration & Production opened an expanded north shore training center Wednesday that is designed to address the energy industry’s labor shortage.
“In terms of workforce development, having enough qualified people is a problem,” said Frank Glaviano Sr., Shell’s vice president of production. “We’re being proactive about workforce development. It’s not enough to run an ad. You’ve got to go out and get the best people and train them well.”
Shell’s Robert Training and Conference Center, located in Tangipahoa Parish, already provides a range of energy sector training to about 3,000 students a month. But a $21 million expansion adds 55,000 square feet of space to the facility and doubles the number of students that can be trained, said Tom Broom, Shell’s operations learning and development manager.
The energy industry is facing a nationwide labor shortage as its workforce ages. Many of the individuals who entered the sector during the boom years of the 1970s are nearing the end of their career.
“Our industry is maturing,” Broom said. “There will be a lot of retirements in the next decade.”
Most of the students at the Robert facility are Shell employees. But other companies, including Exxon, Chevron and BP, also use the training facility.
“We are ultimately one industry, even though we do compete fiercely,” Broom said. “But we want the Gulf of Mexico to be a safe place to work. And a rising tide raises all boats.”
The expanded facility is also outfitted to act as a command base for the company during tropical storms and hurricanes.
Gov. Bobby Jindal said training facilities like Shell’s help shore up the state’s workforce, making it an attractive place for companies to do business.
Workforce issues are among the top two concerns for roughly 70 percent of the state’s business development prospects, Jindal said.
“Our No. 1 mission as a state is to make Louisiana the best place in the world to get a great education and pursue a rewarding career, so we are keeping more Louisianians here at home,” Jindal said. “Success in this mission starts right here with projects like Shell’s workforce training facility that invest in our people.”
Kim Quillen can be reached at 504.826.3416 or at [email protected].
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
