BP Plc (NYSE: BP) will offer advanced training programs for its offshore drilling teams under a new global agreement with Maersk Training, the company said in a Feb. 19 release.

Under the five-year contract, BP said it will offer courses next year in a new-state-of-the-art Maersk Training facility in Houston.

Maersk Training, which currently is working with BP on training in Europe, plans to open the new facility that will feature highly interactive simulators replicating nearly every critical job on an offshore drilling rig by 2016.

BP said it will use the facility to train integrated offshore drilling teams—comprised of BP employees and contractors—in what it calls an “immersive simulation environment.” The hands-on, scenario-based approach goes well beyond traditional classroom training. It allows teams to practice events and joint procedures together as an integrated unit, rather than as individual contributors.

Like similar BP training programs already underway at a Maersk Training facility at Svendborg, Denmark, courses at the Houston facility will incorporate human and organizational factors that frequently are cited as a direct cause or contributing factor to offshore incidents. Course instructors also will be able to assess personnel under intense virtual reality—and to levels that exceed industry standards.

The new Maersk Training facility will be located in north Houston and patterned after the company’s offshore simulation complex in Denmark, which opened in 2012. The Houston facility will include simulators for cyber drilling, vessel bridge, cranes and engine room, plus an emergency response room. In addition, Maersk Training will equip the facility for ship-handling operations to serve the maritime training market.