A total of 25 Guyanese, including three women, graduated from the TOTALTEC Academy on February 21, 2019, bringing the number of persons to complete the one-year old programme to over 100.
The graduating class is now trained and ready to join oil and gas operations. The group also included 11 who were formerly in the sugar and mining sectors, TOTALTEC stated in a press statement.
It said that all trainees graduated with industry recognized qualifications, critical to work in the sector.
The graduation ceremony was attended by representatives from the Guyana government, Schlumberger, Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI) and numerous other companies operating in the country’s emerging oil and gas industry.
In his remarks, Guyana’s Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin noted that with the advent of the oil and gas sector, huge economic transformations are expected to occur. He noted that the Government of Guyana strongly supports training programmes that are aimed at building local capacity.
“As a government, we believe that local capacity must be built to the extent that Guyana’s oil and gas sector employs Guyanese at all levels and across all skill sets. And this, in turn, will not only benefit the petroleum sector but all the other sectors of our economy since many of the skills that are acquired in the oil and gas sector are needed in other fields,” Mr. Gaskin stated.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony, TOTALTEC CEO Lars Mangal said, “I believe women building careers in the sector will be a positive force for our society. We must be proactive and empower women to participate in the industry.” He said that TOTALTEC has been an advocate and driver of women pursuing technical and operational careers in the oil and gas sector from the very beginning of the Academy’s formation one year ago.
Dr Mark Bynoe, Head of the Department of Energy, Ministry of the Presidency, gave the opening speech congratulating the pioneering young Guyanese graduates and commending TOTALTEC for its commitment to making a real difference to local content development and capacity building.
The graduates were trained in the fields of Basic Safety, Rigging and lifting, Oil and Gas Operations, Safety; Environmental Best Practice, Occupational Hygiene and Health, Emergency Response, Transport and Cargo handling, Banksman/Slinger and Practical Training.
