Rig crew and relievers on a contractor with a multi-country fleet
A rig can be moved to another basin between contracts, and a crew member may follow it with little notice.
Course snapshot
CourseBasic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training with EBS (BOSIET with EBS)
OPITO code5700
Duration3 Days
Fee₹35,000
Validity4 Years
CourseBOSIET with EBS, OPITO 5700
Fee and length₹35,000 for 3 days
Certificate validity4 years
Nearest airportDammam (DMM), about 50 km
Time differenceKochi is 2 h 30 min ahead
Trip to plan5 to 6 days door to door
Al Khobar companies whose rigs and vessels work in several seas
The usual story about Al Khobar is that its offshore people work for Saudi Aramco's marine fleet and go home to the city between rotations. That is true, and our Al Khobar T-BOSIET page is written for it. This page is for a smaller group: staff of companies that manage assets in more than one sea from an Al Khobar office. Arab News reported in February 2022 that the drilling contractor ADES moved its headquarters to Al Khobar. Trade press then reported its acquisition of Shelf Drilling as finalised in late 2025, leaving a group with 83 offshore units and 40 onshore rigs across 19 countries. Drilling Contractor lists the Middle East, Southeast Asia, India, West Africa, the Mediterranean and the North Sea among the basins where that fleet can be allocated.
Marine companies show the same pattern. Zamil Offshore Services, headquartered in Al Khobar, runs more than 60 vessels and, according to The Energy Year, bought the Norwegian platform-supply owner Remøy Shipping in December 2025, its first step into Norwegian offshore work. We found no public document from either company naming the survival certificate it asks of a particular posting, so none of this tells you what your own contract needs. What it does tell you is that a person on an Al Khobar payroll can be reassigned further than the Gulf, and that the reassignment may arrive with a short mobilisation window.
That is the case for the standard course. The tropical T-BOSIET is written for warm-water regions and is the right pick when your client says so. A holder of the tropical certificate who is later sent somewhere that wants the standard one may have to take OPITO's bridging product (5704), which means another trip. If the next four years are open, a single standard certificate removes that question. If they are not open, because you will stay on one warm-water Gulf contract, the cheaper decision is usually the one your client names, and our T-BOSIET page for Al Khobar covers it.
A second reason to read the client wording carefully is the type of emergency breathing system. OPITO describes BOSIET with EBS (5700) as the product for people who will be given a rebreather during helicopter travel. It publishes a separate product, BOSIET with compressed air EBS (5750), for people who will use a CA-EBS, and its page notes that some regions, including the UK, also require a shoulder breadth measurement for helicopter travel, available as a separate OPITO course (9365). The course we run here is the rebreather one, 5700. If your destination wording names CA-EBS or code 5750, ask our team before you book.
ADES Holding, headquartered in Al Khobar
Moved its head office to the city in February 2022, per Arab News; the group completed its Shelf Drilling acquisition in November 2025.
Fleet allocated across basins
83 offshore units and 40 onshore rigs in 19 countries, with the North Sea and Mediterranean listed among possible basins.
Zamil Offshore Services
Al Khobar-headquartered vessel owner with more than 60 vessels; bought Norway's Remøy Shipping in December 2025.
EBS type in the client wording
OPITO 5700 covers the rebreather EBS; 5750 is a separate compressed-air EBS product used where operators name it.
Al Khobar roles where the standard BOSIET is worth the extra thought
Officers and ratings on offshore support vessels
Vessel owners based in Al Khobar are expanding beyond Saudi waters, so a deck or engine posting can change sea.
Mobilisation coordinators and crew planners in the Al Khobar office
They build the crew list for a rig move, and a certificate of the wrong version can delay a name by weeks.
Inspectors, auditors and marine warranty staff on multi-client work
One consultant may visit a Gulf platform in March and a northern installation in October.
Onshore Eastern Province technicians planning a move offshore abroad
They have the plant experience but no survival card, and a foreign employer will ask for one before an offer becomes a flight.
Standard BOSIET with EBS, the tropical course, or a shorter route
Begin with where the paperwork will be read. If the client wording names OPITO 5501 or says tropical, take T-BOSIET; the standard course would add nothing the client asked for. If it names BOSIET or 5700, or if you are being hired for a posting in a cooler basin, take this course. If you hold a valid tropical certificate and the new client wants the standard one, ask about bridging before you pay for three days again. Anyone who already holds an in-date standard BOSIET should look at the one-day refresher instead, and the one-day HUET with EBS suits a passenger who only flies. The EBS type still matters, so read the line that names it.
Tropical Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (T-BOSIET) →
Your client names the tropical version and your work stays in warm-water regions.
Further Offshore Emergency Training with EBS (FOET with EBS) →
You hold an in-date standard BOSIET or FOET-family certificate and are close to the four-year mark.
Helicopter Underwater Escape Training with EBS (HUET with EBS) →
You only travel as a helicopter passenger and your client accepts helicopter escape without the full induction.
Basic H2S Training →
The new assignment handles sour gas and the wording adds H2S awareness, which runs on its own two-year cycle.
The five BOSIET blocks, read against a posting away from home
The course mixes classroom theory with instructor-led practicals. Helicopter escape and sea survival are practised in an indoor pool with a simulator, fire work takes place on a dedicated fire ground, and OPITO-approved instructors assess every exercise against the standard as you go.
- 01
Safety induction
Risk management, safety law, hazards and incident reporting. Every operator has its own installation induction, and this block gives you the vocabulary before you arrive at a new client's gangway.
- 02
Firefighting and self-rescue
Handheld extinguishers, then finding your way out of a smoke-filled space. The skills are the same in a Gulf accommodation module and on a northern platform, which is why they travel well.
- 03
Sea survival
Lifejackets, boarding craft and water survival techniques. Colder basins make this block feel different, so ask the instructors what changes when the water is not warm.
- 04
HUET safety and escape (with EBS)
Helicopter ditching drills and the controlled descent, with the emergency breathing system in your hands. This is the block to link to your client's EBS wording.
- 05
Hands-on pool drills
Simulated emergencies in aviation suits, lifejackets and the EBS, which pull the earlier blocks together. Bring a retaining strap if you wear spectacles.
For Al Khobar rig, vessel and manning teams that move people between clients
The buyer here is often a mobilisation or HSE office that holds the crew matrix for assets in several places. The recurring problem is a certificate that is valid but of the wrong type, found on the day a rig is moved.
Standards that shape training in Saudi Arabia
OPITO BOSIET with EBS (5700)Twenty-one guided learning hours, four mandatory units, and a four-year interval before the FOET refresher. Fitness has to be shown before the practical exercises.
OPITO BOSIET with CA-EBS (5750)A separate product for people who will use a compressed-air EBS. Its page mentions a shoulder breadth measurement for helicopter travel in some regions, including the UK.
OPITO bridging product (5704)For holders of a valid tropical certificate who are asked for the standard one.
Destination operator or flag rulesThe country or operator receiving your crew sets its own induction list. Ask for it in writing before you choose a course.
What employers commonly ask for
| Course | Requirement note |
|---|---|
| Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training with EBS (BOSIET with EBS) | The sensible default for a pool of people who may be sent outside warm water. The client contract decides. |
| Tropical Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (T-BOSIET) | Right where the contract names the tropical version; do not move a whole crew onto it for work elsewhere without checking. |
| Further Offshore Emergency Training with EBS (FOET with EBS) | Track the four-year date so the refresher is booked before a mobilisation, not after. |
| Helicopter Underwater Escape Training with EBS (HUET with EBS) | For visitors who fly but do not stay offshore, if the client accepts it. |
Planning a group booking
- Registering the company at portal.imostacademy.in/register gives you team logins, group bookings, rate-card pricing after approval, and a tracker for every certificate and expiry on your matrix.
- Send each name with its current certificate type, expiry date and the EBS wording from the client, so we can tell you who needs the full course and who does not.
- A rig move or vessel change-over is the worst moment to lose a whole crew for a week, so split a large group over more than one batch and ask for current dates.
- Quotes are in rupees. Agree the invoice currency and the way funds will leave Saudi Arabia in writing before the first purchase order, which we accept; credit follows a credit assessment.
- Check iqama validity and exit and re-entry permissions for each person before tickets are bought.
Operators and clients set their own requirements; confirm with your contract or HSE department.
Getting from Al Khobar to Njarakkal for a three-day course
The usual route is a drive to King Fahd International Airport at Dammam, then a flight into Cochin International Airport (COK). Bahrain is the second option over the causeway. From COK the campus on Vypin island is about 40 km by road, and about 15 km from Ernakulam Junction over the Goshree bridges.
Drive to Dammam airport
About 50 km from Al Khobar. Leave time for the airport approach rather than the distance alone.
Dammam (DMM) to Kochi (COK)
Direct services of around five hours are listed on comparison sites. Timetables change by season, so check the airline before fixing course dates.
Bahrain (BAH) to Kochi (COK)
Nonstop flights of about 4 hours 45 minutes are listed. Read Bahrain's entry rules for your nationality and confirm your Saudi exit and re-entry permission first. Dammam avoids both questions.
COK to the campus
Book a taxi or app cab in advance for Puthuval Road, Njarakkal, and expect the ride across the bridges to take an hour or longer.
Plan your visit from Al Khobar
Planning around home leave
If you are travelling to Kerala anyway, take the course in the first days of the break so that any repeated exercise does not eat into family time. For a stand-alone trip, count five or six days: one to arrive, three for the course, one or two to return.
Visa and entry
An Indian passport needs no visa for this trip. If you hold another passport, check the e-Visa categories on indianvisaonline.gov.in, since only the visa authority can say which one suits a short safety course. On the Saudi side, confirm your iqama and exit and re-entry permission through your employer or Absher.
Costs and payment
Fees are in Indian rupees, per person. Ask our team how to pay from Saudi Arabia before you transfer money, and keep the receipt for your employer's expense claim.
Five or six days from the Al Khobar office to a new certificate
- 1
Get the wording
Ask the client, the HR desk or the mobilisation letter for the exact certificate name, the OPITO code and the EBS type. Save the reply.
- 2
Choose your medical route
OPITO accepts an offshore medical, an employer-approved equivalent, a fit-to-work-at-sea certificate, a diving fitness certificate or the centre's screening form. Tell us which you hold.
- 3
Fix the batch, then the ticket
Write to info@imostacademy.in or message +91 8075 787307 with your leave window. Batches run regularly; ask our team for current dates before buying flights.
- 4
Travel the day before
Dammam or Bahrain to Kochi, then a taxi to your stay near Vypin. The clock moves 2 h 30 min ahead of Saudi time.
- 5
Days 1 to 3
Classroom induction and the fire ground come first, then sea survival, then the helicopter escape and pool sessions. Keep the diary clear.
- 6
Return and file
Keep a spare day for a repeat exercise or a moved flight. Send the certificate to your office and put the four-year date in the matrix.