“No need to repeat mistakes Trinidad made” – safety advisor

Guyana’s Oil and gas sector

…as Strategic Recruitment Solutions launched

By Davina Ramdass

As the Strategic Recruitment Solutions Inc officially launched its services at the Marriott Hotel on Friday evening, Safety Consulting Adviser of the company, Allister Taylor told the gathering that there is no need for Guyana to repeat the mistakes Trinidad made in the oil and gas sector.
Taylor, who has Trinidadian roots, noted that Guyana can safeguard itself and not repeat the mistakes the twin-island republic made while referring to local content.
“We have been in oil and gas for well over a century. There is no need to repeat the mistakes that we would have made and it is time to quantum leap and to ensure that things get done and get done right…there is going to be a need for capacity building. No one should come and attempt to stay,” Taylor said.
The safety consulting adviser explained that trainees in the sector should be given the opportunity to grow and even become superiors if they manage to grasp all concepts well.
Trinidad recently moved from producing over one million barrels of oil per year to no longer having large-scale production. Last year, the country’s oil refinery company’s production came to a screeching halt leaving about 1700 persons jobless.
Reports are that Trinidad and Tobago is seeking to get the Guyana Government to take a stake in the Petrotrin refinery, and in this way, acquire a strategic asset.
The proposal, according to media reports, is to ensure that Guyana gets its share of oil from ExxonMobil closer to home, and in this way, employment would be provided to people of both countries. This was one of the areas that were discussed prior to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This caused the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) to publicly ask the Government to hold off on signing the MoU with Trinidad and Tobago. The GCCI added that its members should be consulted first, as they fear that this could possibly open the floodgates for foreign companies to take over the oil industry at the disadvantage to locals.
President of the GCCI, Deodat Indar said Guyanese businesses are already being sidestepped and instead, contracts have been awarded to foreign-based companies to benefit from the local oil sector. But the GCCI wants the local Private Sector to get its “piece of the pie”.

In this regard, it was pointed out that Strategic Recruitment Solutions (SRS) will be training interested Guyanese in entering the oil and gas sector. The agency will be hunting for persons who have some sort of experience in the field, or even have a passion to contribute to local content development and helping other locals to become part of the sector.
Chief Executive Officer of SRS, Kerri Gravesande-Bart said so far 26 persons have been trained during more than 3000 hours of hard work. She noted that SRS is aiming to achieve the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certificate, among others.
Speaking on the importance of the company, Rig Manager of Stena Carron, Callum Balfour said when he first came to Guyana, they were quite cognisant of the importance of utilising local labour, however, no drilling recruits were in the country as oil and gas was still fresh to country.
Balfour said although they wanted to hire Guyanese, they were unable to because of safety concerns. “Safety is paramount and you can’t put people into a situation where they could potentially hurt themselves”.
Despite beginning its operations only last year, SRS has already expanded its brand to the United States.
Directing Shareholder of SRS-US, Deon Vigilance explained, “In an effort to expand the SRS pool of talent, we’ve established a subsidiary in Texas, SRS-US. This extension of SRS-GY will concentrate on attracting individuals with skillsets and knowledge base that are currently unavailable in Guyana”.
According to him, unlike other companies which were birthed overseas and subsequently partnered with local Guyanese companies, SRS represents a Guyanese company which has extended its operations overseas for the sole purpose of talent acquisition, training and for the advancement of the local economy.
He added that this initiative will afford Guyanese with rapid knowledge transfer.
The President of the GCCI lauded the local company for being one of a kind and making bold steps as he reflected on the first time he met with the CEO of SRS as she threw her business idea at him.