Puffer Guyana has opened a new 22,000-square-foot facility at the Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI) Houston Estate Annex, investing millions to bring advanced valve maintenance and repair services to the local oil and gas sector.
Speaking to OilNOW on the sidelines of the launch on August 26, Country Manager, Catalina Echeverri, said the facility offers warehouse capacity alongside repair and testing services. “We have warehouse capacity, but also maintenance and repair for valves, control valves, manual valves, pressure relief valves and instrumentation,” she explained.
Although this is the company’s first subsidiary in Guyana, Puffer has a long international footprint. “We have been in the business for 80 years. Our main office is in Houston. We also have some other companies in Colombia, Trinidad, Chile, Peru, [and] Ecuador,” Echeverri said.
The company expects to employ 12 people by the end of the year, comprising a mix of expatriates and Guyanese nationals. “Four of them [will be] local, Guyanese, part of the trainee program with ExxonMobil,” Echeverri said. She added that Puffer has already begun recruiting Guyanese for roles in health, safety, security, and quality within the company.
Echeverri highlighted that the investment includes specialized equipment not previously available in Guyana. “You will not find these capabilities in country. They are state-of-the-art. We are going to be able to test [valves] till 25,000 psi,” she said. “We’re bringing the same facilities we have in the US. If you close the doors, it’s like you are in the US, in one of our facilities there.”
Puffer is partnering with local firms for human resources, legal, and tax advisory services. “We are working with other local companies for human resources, attorneys, tax advisors, that kind of [support],” Echeverri stated.
The launch is another addition to the growing network of international service providers establishing operations in Guyana as the country’s oil and gas industry continues to expand.
