After completing his first year at the Angola Institute of Petroleum, learning English and the basics of the oil and gas industry, in 2002 he headed to Durban, South Africa where he successfully completed a three-year production apprenticeship programme in 2004 at the SAPREF Refinery.
2005 was the beginning of an exciting Programme journey that took Paulo first, to the Miller Platform in the North Sea, and then to Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea during the Greater Plutonio FPSO construction, and travelling via the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans to block 18 for hook-up and commissioning in 2006, followed by first oil in October 2007.
In 2008 Paulo was promoted from Designate Production Technician to Production technician, since then he has moved to designate production supervisor in 2009. After almost four years in the role, Paulo was offered the opportunity to stand in as Operations Team Leader in 2014.
‘’It was a very challenging role and after a year learning the role, I got the job as Operation Team Leader in April 2015. But I felt that I could move further and with hard work, the right coaching and the opportunity, due to the nationalization agenda, I got the Operations Installation Manager (OIM) job in 2017.’’ Paulo says.
During the last 12 years on Greater Plutonio, Paulo has faced many challenges. The most difficult came during the early years, when in addition to his day-to-day job as a technician he came across people from different parts of the world with different cultures.
‘’As time moved on, I have learnt to deal with them, most of the time adopting positive behaviours. Today, I still face the same people and culture diversity challenges but on a different scale and with a better understanding on how to deal with them.’’ Paulo adds.
Since first oil in October 2007, Greater Plutonio, like any facility after start-up, has presented operational challenges.