Nabi Construction Inc. the Guyanese partner in the Nabi/KCL Oilfield Construction Services joint venture is one of a number of local companies benefiting from knowledge transfer and capacity building initiatives that are helping these firms tap into opportunities in the country’s emerging oil and gas industry.
The company is enhancing the way it does business as it moves forward with the construction of ExxonMobil’s new campus at Ogle, East Coast Demerara.
Through its relationship with the oil company as a contractor hired for the construction of the complex, the local company, which has partnered with Trinidadian firm Kee-Chanona Limited for the execution of the project, has now gained knowledge of international standards and practices necessary for working with world-class companies.
This new knowledge will now be applied to Nabi’s future projects, said Director Rafael S. Nabi.
Speaking in a new ExxonMobil social media video published over the weekend, Nabi described this relationship with the oil company and the benefits it has afforded the Guyanese firm.
“Everyone knows that ExxonMobil is a huge company but they do not only tick boxes, they actually spend the time to ‘on-board’ you…to let you know their expectations and they have spent the time with us,” he said, adding that it was a lot of interaction, communication and training for which Nabi was grateful.
“We are a core building and construction company in Guyana for many years and we are basically transferring that into the oil and gas industry and specifically to ExxonMobil and their head office campus in Guyana,” Nabi pointed out.
He said that since the Liza discovery in 2015, Nabi’s staff members have grown 30 percent and the company has a very diverse group of employees.
He called safety an infectious passion with ExxonMobil and this, he said, has trickled down to Nabi Construction Inc. “When we leave their project and work on other projects, we will be sharing this mindset to our short- and long-term subcontractors. We are already seeing the ripple effect of the teaching that ExxonMobil afforded us, and we are seeing this on other sites. I can tell you that we are very proud,” said Nabi.
Nabi is just one of many companies which, through oil and gas and the support of entities such as the Centre for Local Business Development, has been able to build capacity and expand employment opportunities. In 2018, Guysons Oil and Gas Services became the first local company to meet the requirements for International Organization for Standardization – ISO 9001:2015. Cyril’s Taxi started providing transportation services to the oil and gas industry with just one vehicle and driver, and has since seen that number balloon to 133 drivers.
Also, since 2015, more than 1900 Guyanese have gained employment in the sector, 600 service suppliers contracted, and local companies have entered over 70 joint ventures.
Watch Video
RELATED
Wide-ranging services, supplies being sought for construction of ExxonMobil Guyana HQ
First 100% Guyanese-owned human resource company to service O&G industry launched
