Local workers keen to try their hand at working on an oil rig can have a go at a simulator before heading off to experience the real thing.

Economy Minister Chris Cardona this morning toured Ableman’s €2.5 million San Gwann academy, which includes an oil rig simulator inaugurated earlier this year.

The drilling academy was opened in 2015 and is unique to the region. It offers class and workshop training for those interested in making a career within the oil and gas industry, with courses including internationally-accredited Well Control courses. It will soon begin offering CompEx courses required by oil rig electricians and has plans to invest in a crane simulator and offer crane training by 2016.

Ablecare Oilfield Services, the academy's parent company, has committed itself to investing €55 million in the old Marsa shipbuilding site as part of a project to develop the site into a Maritime Hub featuring an oil rig servicing centre and training institute.

“We often talk of Malta developing as an energy hub in the Mediterranean and this is further evidence that it is actually happening,” Dr Cardona said.

Drilling academy director Angelique Maggi said that the company was “improving key skills while also putting Malta on the map as one of the region’s top centres for training.”