SBM Offshore says it remains committed to building the capacity of its Guyanese workforce as part of plans to become fully integrated in the South American country.
These objectives were emphasised at the second annual Guyana International Petroleum Exhibition (GIPEX), held from November 20-22, 2019 at the Guyana Marriott Hotel in Georgetown. SBM Offshore was a Gold Sponsor of GIPEX 2019.
Addressing hundreds of delegates on day three of the conference, SBM Offshore’s Regional Head of Operations for North America and the Caribbean, Mr. Michiel Heuven said, “SBM Offshore believes that the ocean will provide the world with safe, sustainable and affordable energy for generations to come. We are committed to partnering with Guyana and to work together. We are going to share our expertise to make it happen and to make it a success, and we will transfer knowledge and we will hire locals.”
“In the office… 50 percent [of our staff] is Guyanese, including the leadership positions,” Mr. Heuven pointed out.
SBM Offshore which has been operating in Guyana for over two years expects this percentage will continue to grow in the near future.
“Our percentage of Guyanese will grow going into 2020. Then, we will start a graduate programme early in the new year so we will hire graduate engineers with less than two years’ experience and we will train them globally and, hopefully one day, they can come back to Guyana to be future leaders,” Mr. Heuven said.
He added that the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel has a crew of more than 25 percent Guyanese.
Mr. Heuven reminded GIPEX participants that the company is a leader in FPSO solutions to the offshore energy industry, with over 300 years of operations experience and a proven history of excellence and dependability.
The company has so far been contracted by ExxonMobil Guyana to build, operate and maintain two FPSOs – the Liza Destiny and the Liza Unity, and has been awarded preliminary contracts to perform Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) for the Prosperity FPSO.
Meanwhile, at the exhibition site, Operations Manager of SBM Offshore, Mr. Didier Abbo interacted with visitors to the company’s booth, which included an attention-grabbing model of the Liza Destiny FPSO.
“We are participating in the regular events in Guyana to network with the local companies, get known on the market and take the opportunity to share what we are doing in the country and offshore as well with the Liza Destiny,” Mr. Abbo said.
Many of the other companies that participated, he explained, are already familiar with SBM.
“What I find interesting is the interaction with the public, gauge the interest, the concerns that they have about our activities and also the opportunities they see with companies like SBM and our partners,” Mr. Abbo said.
SBM Offshore said it will continue to explore options to maximise local content and Guyanese workforce development, building on efforts to date on the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity FPSOs.
