For the first time, the company’s TUIC training program visited Fortín de Piedra. Here’s why the second 2023 edition of the Induction Program for Young Professionals was so special this time round.

TUIC stands for the Tecpetrol University Induction Camp, an acronym that means the world to our Young Professionals. It’s both a milestone and a symbol of the intensive industrial training course designed to strengthen development at this stage in their careers by providing in-depth industrial knowledge.

The second 2023 edition of the traditional training program launched with a spectacular new addition: for the first time, the course included a study visit to the Fortín de Piedra project in Vaca Muerta, complementing the work carried out at Tecpetrol's training field in El Tordillo. In this article, we share details about the new and improved format.

“It was the piece we were missing,” opens Joaquín Naveiro, Training & Development Analyst, who goes on to explain that, “It’s vital for our Young Professionals (JPs in Spanish) to know what work is like at Fortín as we consider it essential to have a global vision of both operations. This edition of the TUIC was organized in such a way as to ensure that the participants were well aware of the differences between conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons exploration and production, in addition to the differences in size between the projects in Chubut and Neuquén.”

Maira Soto, Operational Planning Jr. Engineer in Neuquén, has a good feeling about it all. “I believe that it was necessary to add Fortín to the TUIC. They are two entirely different worlds. On the one hand, you have a really well developed field and on the other, a site in full growth. There are lots of people working at Fortín, you can see all the drilling, coiling and fracturing equipment at work: you have the full gamut of activity from workover and pulling to full development. We were also able to see the quality part, which is a new department.”

Arianna Gili, Operational Planning Jr. Engineer, agrees with her colleague: “Having been to Fortín and trying out the simulator gives you a sense of the size, structure and the materials used. It’s like visiting a PAD and being able to see the procedures as they’re used in the field. The size of the operation is very different to El Tordillo. I believe that visiting Fortín is a way of closing the learning circle.”

“I loved the TUIC, I met so many incredible people from different parts of Argentina and Ecuador. I already consider many of them my friends, and I believe that the memories we take away with us will accompany us forever,” enthuses Santiago Roldán, Financial Planning Analyst in Buenos Aires. “During the last two weeks, we were able to see in person what we had studied weeks earlier. I consider that it’s fundamental to be able to understand not only the theoretical side of things but also the practical part. I was really impressed by the family spirit that permeates El Tordillo, and left speechless by the standard of innovation at Fortín de Piedra. I was finally able to see what they had been talking about all this time, what they meant by the industrialization of processes in an unconventional field. On a logistical and industrial level, it’s the largest project I’ve ever seen. It was really amazing.”

“This edition of the TUIC was a challenge for several reasons. First, because it was the one with the largest number of participants. Also, because we visited head offices as well as our operations in Comodoro Rivadavia and Neuquén. We slept at the camp in Fortín, which was something none of the TUICers had ever done before. In point of fact, it was a double school, with two simulators on location. Everything went extremely well, it’s really gratifying to see how quickly Young Professionals learn: you can watch them grow over the period from the first day to the last, not only on a professional level but as individuals and as a group. The change is very noticeable. And that’s the most exciting thing!” Joaquín closes his impression of the latest edition of the TUIC with enthusiasm, and it’s clear that this dimension of the training program is here to stay: Fortín de Piedra is already an important part of the TUIC.