Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Guyana/T&T joint venture training local welders, fabricators for oil sector
National Hardware (Guyana) and Concepts & Services (Trinidad & Tobago) are making good on their promise to provide quality service to the oil and gas sector in a manner that lets Guyanese have meaningful participation.
In just about one year, the two have managed to build a welding and fabrication facility, with local welders and fabricators who are already building equipment for the oil sector.
Their joint venture, called Guyana Oil and Gas Support Services Incorporated (GOGSSI) was first announced during the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit and Exhibition (GIPEX) 2018.
A year later, two of its Directors, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer and the Trinidadian Damion Jordan have given an update on the progress the company has made, on the sidelines of GIPEX 2019.
The company has set up a welding and fabrication facility south of Georgetown, where local welders and fabricators trained and up-skilled in Trinidad and Tobago, build equipment for the oil and gas sector.
The company is the only one in Guyana, according to Deygoo-Boyer, that has American Welding Society (AWS) certified welders for the type of structural welding needed for the oil sector.
GOGSSI staff receive a safety briefing from the captain of one of the vessels transporting equipment to the Liza-1 site.
GOGSSI staff welders fabricate the sea-fastening equipment
It took them a few months to attain the standard after starting the process, earlier this year.
The welders have already safely completed a bout of dwelling and fabrication of sea-fastening equipment used on platforms of supply vessels. They built and installed the equipment in Guyana.
Deygoo-Boyer boasted that the company’s welders were featured in Access ExxonMobil, a series by the oil major.
The welders of Guyana Oil and Gas Support Services were featured in the 12th installment of that series, which focuses on recruitment and development of Guyanese personnel and utilization of local goods and services.
The company has big plans for the future, so it can offer more trained and certified welders and fabricators to its clientele. It is currently working on securing additional joint ventures so that it can grow in the welding and fabrication space.
Damion Jordan of Concepts and Services said that the next step is to engage local technical institutes for vibrant, young graduates who can be groomed and poised for entry into the oil sector.
The training and testing done in Trinidad, Jordan said, has gotten a fail rate of about 40 percent.
“In terms of structural welding, there are several different weld procedures. Right now, they are being certified to do what you call a 6G weld procedure. In that procedure, you have several different positions. You have overhead, vertical, [and] horizontal.”
“Some welders are comfortably able to do the overhead position, but then they fail the vertical or might even fail the horizontal position.”
He said it’s not often that a welder is able to equip all three positions in one try.
“Some welders took the entire day on one test piece. Some did all three in one day.” Jordan told reporters.
The welders are also to be trained for Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) and for operating in confined spaces.
It requires a can-do mentality, according to Deygoo-Boyer.
“We’re just scratching the surface.”
He explained that what is to come will require enormous investments, but that it has paid off so far.
“It’s fun to see these Guyanese who people would have said can’t participate in the industry… beat the expectations… break the mould and be the first to say ‘Look, we did it. We became certified. We can do this. We are ready to take on this industry.’”
For the welders and fabricators to be trained, Deygoo-Boyer said that they’ll need to be sent overseas for long periods, so that they can be exposed to certain welding practices and complex equipment.
It was iterated that a kink in the business is that when welders and fabricators get upskilled, they become much more exportable and could potentially leave.
“That’s natural, you can’t stop it. You just have to keep creating a skilled workforce.”
One thing they hope to do is bring some of the competency here in Guyana, so that a local welding training school can be established. They are still in the embryonic stages of that endeavour.
For now, the training will be done in Trinidad, as competency builds. The company is working on closing certain gaps with the help of organizations like the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), for which Deygoo-Boyer is the President. This venture, according to the GCCI President, is a testimony that the oil sector is very much penetrable for locals who are willing to invest.
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