In light of the growing interest in Guyana’s emerging oil and gas sector, an oil and gas academy was on Thursday launched with the aim of providing training and certification for Guyanese citizens who wish to be part of the lucrative sector.
The sod was turned for the International Petroleum and Maintenance Academy, located at the Gafoors complex, Houston, East Bank Demerara by Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, who welcomed the initiative, noting that it was great that the sod turning coincided with the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit and Exhibition (GIPEX) 2018.
The Academy is an initiative of TOTALTEC Oil Services, in partner with Schlumberger, a leading service provider in the global oil and gas industry.
TOTALTEC Chairman Lars Mangal expressed joy at being able to inaugurate the oil field service academy. He noted that the company was focused on recruiting, developing and employing Guyanese. The graduates of the oil and gas academy will be highly qualified to participate in offshore and onshore work during exploration activities and the development of Guyana’s oil and gas industry.
Minister Trotman, who was privy to the curriculum that would be taught at the Academy, stated that it was integral, as the Government would not be able to develop the sector alone.
“We cannot do it alone, we need all hands on deck to support us and particularly, we need private enterprise support and so we are overwhelmingly happy that you have taken this initiative,” he said.
The Minister also charged the company to collaborate with the University of Guyana and local technical institutes as they go through the “agonising pains of right sizing the sugar industry”.
Trotman explained that there would be many able-bodied men and women who would be more than capable of contributing to the “new industry that is going to replace sugar”.
Meanwhile, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon on Wednesday clarified that there was no conflict of interest in the relationship between Government, the Mangal brothers and ExxonMobil. The TOTALTEC Chairman’s brother is Dr Jan Mangal, an advisor on oil and gas, while he himself has also partnered with ExxonMobil.
The Academy is conveniently located at just a stone’s throw away from the Guyana Shore Base Inc, which is providing shore-base services to ExxonMobil.
Attendees were also invited to a tour of the grounds of the company. The shore-base operations already have a pipe-washing complex and a warehouse set up and pipes are currently being off-loaded from a vessel, the Intermarine Industrial Aim, which arrived in Guyana on Wednesday night, in support of the Liza One project.
These preparations are all in anticipation of oil production, which is slated to begin in 2020.
