KUWAIT, Jan 8 (KUNA) -- The training and development sector of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) provided 800 training courses to 12,500 trainees in the third quarter of 2011, a senior KPC official said here Sunday.

The training courses were carried out through the KPC's Oil Training Center; involving various fields required by the oil sector, Sheikha Shatha Al-Sabah, the KPC's managing director for training and functional development, said in a news release.

She said she had recently opened a supportive training center in Ahmadi City in presence of a constellation of senior oil officials. The center aimed to receive the growing number of trainees, she noted.

Sheikha Shatha hailed the role of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) in the rehabilitation and development of the new training center, which dates back to the 1050s.

The center, which was an old American school, is a fresh addition to achievements made by the oil training sector over the recent period, and an initial step towards the fulfillment of the sector's strategic goals.

The building is home to 15 training rooms and two computer labs.