The time has arrived

The Fuels Industry has been requesting a certification program for some time now to assist in the selection of qualified applicants for vacancies throughout the world. NPMA has answered this call with an industry first fuel handler certification program. By joining and aligning your qualifications within the NPMA structure you will have an edge for these highly sought after positions.

The cost for the initial certification process is $495 dollars. That includes:

• Administrative entrance into the program
• Records review from an educational review board
• Online bypass test and/or course
• One year free Gold membership in NPMA
• Discounts for annual PETRO conferences and Trade Show

How does it work?

A little about how the education review committee process works. After entry into the certification program, the candidate will be provided information on how to fill out an online input form to capture their current training, education, and experience. After the individual has entered all their data, their records will be sent to an administrator who does an initial review to ensure the data appears complete. From there, the administrator formats the data and sends it to the education review committee. It normally takes about 10 business days to hear back from all the committee members. The administrator facilitates any additional discussion, as necessary, to facilitate additional information requested by the educational review committee.

In the mean time, the certification candidate completes the online certification course that is loaded into their classroom on the National Petroleum Management Association Professional Development website. There are seven modules in the certification course and each as a “test out” function. If an individual doesn’t pass the pre-test, they will need to complete the module and test again. The individual will be given two attempts at the completion of each module to pass the test. The tests pull questions randomly from a large battery of questions, so individuals will most like get an entirely new set of questions each time so it’s important to take the information in the course seriously.

Following successful completion of the test and completion of the education review process, the committee makes a recommendation on the individual’s certification level to the approving official who awards entry level certification (levels 1 – 5).

As you can see an individual gets a lot for $495 and the only way this is possible is because of the organization’s non-profit status and a host of volunteers.

Who Is the Certification For?

The National Petroleum Management Association (NPMA) is a non-profit, educational and professional membership society dedicated to providing professional status for qualified Fuel Handlers. Fuel Handler is the generic name of the person anywhere in the fuel supply chain, from “wellhead to wingtip”. They encompass operators, maintainers, accountants, programmers, managers, supervisors, controllers, transporters, mechanics, storage attendants, and quality control technicians (to name a few) are all Fuel Handlers.  Chances are since you are reading this, you are a Fuel Handler as well.

Why Certification?

The National Petroleum Management Association Certification Program is designed to enhance individual technical knowledge, safety and product quality skill sets while promoting professionalism in organizations.  This comprehensive program will enable organizations to reduce safety and quality risks thus allowing them to retain their most valuable resource…highly qualified and competent employees.  Additionally, we’re confident this program will provide the catalyst for certified individuals to be more competitive in a highly technical industry; as one of the leading developmental venues is through professional certification programs.

The National Petroleum Management Association (NPMA) certification program is built on a foundation of education, training and experience within the petroleum industry.  There are five certification levels (fig. 1) which lead to becoming a Certified Petroleum Professional (CPP).

Getting Started

After enrollment, if you are new to the petroleum industry you will most likely begin your certification journey looking for level 1 certification.  There are three requirements to gain level 1 certification.

      1.            You must pass the level 1 certification test.

      2.            You must have at least 6 months experience.

      3.            You must be fully qualified in your current job (as verified by your supervisor) 

Increasing Certification Levels

Regardless of where you begin your certification journey, to move from one level to the next requires completion of Continuing Education Units (CEU).  CEUs are the building blocks of training, that when put together with experience move you to the next certification level and ultimately to professional status as a Certified Petroleum Professional.  You can CEUs by submitting training course information to the educational review board for credit consideration.  You also gain CEUs for experience by filling out an online work history for the NPMA educational committee’s review.  The committee recommends a number of CEU equivalents to the NPMA education board for approval.

Certification Certificates

Following successful completion of all requirements for a particular certification level, NPMA will provide the individual with a signed certificate with the official NPMA seal to publicly acknowledge the individual’s significant milestone.

So why wait, sign up today to start your journey towards becoming a Certified Petroleum Professional!

For more information email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it