Support from National Hardware Guyana and Concepts & Services Company of Trinidad and Tobago has led to the formation of a new oil services company based in Guyana which is set to become the region’s newest oil producer in a matter of weeks.
Spawned during the first GIPEX Conference, hosted in February 2018, the Guyana Oil and Gas Support Services (GOGSS) was established.
Speaking on the final day of the GIPEX 2019 conference, Director of GOGSS, Nicolas Deygoo-Boyer, told the media that the company had completed construction of a welding and fabrication facility in Guyana. He said that GOGSS currently has around 50 employees on staff and is the now the only Guyanese entity with AWS certified welders for structural welding.
Boyer said that the company had received support from the prime contractors, and its welders were among a group of riggers featured in an ExxonMobil television programme, following the safe completion of the fabric welding and fabrication of the sea fastening.
Growth of the welding and fabrication space is on the horizon for GOGSS as the company looks to expand.
“We are working on some additional joint ventures… we want to get more trained and certified welders and fabricators. We would like to see more of the equipment going offshore welded and fabricated in Guyana,” said Boyer.
He indicated the company would need to make more investments in their personnel and infrastructure.
“We have to make the investment in our people and send them off for training, and we are looking at some potential partners who can help us with that,” explained Boyer.
Boyer’s Trinidadian counterpart, Damien Jordan, said that they are seeking to engage some of the Guyanese technical institutes, with a view of acquiring some students to begin the grooming process.
“We plan to do a lot of investment in the people, of Guyana, so we can transfer some of the knowledge and prepare them for what’s coming their way in the future for Guyana,” he explained.
Jordan told the media that the cost for training a welder varies, however, the company hopes to bring some of the competencies and certification steps locally with the possible establishment of a welding training school. He noted that this would require availably of the necessary testing kits, materials, and collaboration of certifying agencies such as the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.
Guyana will join the league of oil producing nations in a matter of weeks with the ExxonMobil-led 120,000 barrels per day Liza Phase 1 Development project.
