Ravindra Chuniram and Joshua Ramotar were two of the first Guyanese hired by Qualco Guyana to work at its Supply, East Bank Demerara training base as Roustabouts – an entry-level, broad-based skill-level oil and gas position.
Both men are now certified Level 1 Rope Access Technicians and equipped with the necessary certification to triple as banksman, riggers, and welders after undergoing three weeks of training at Qualco’s headquarters in Youngsville, Louisiana.
Qualco said that the opportunity is part and parcel of its local content efforts to ensure that every Guyanese in its employ receives world-class training to apply in Guyana’s growing oil and gas sector.
Both young men did not envisage a career in oil and gas: Ravindra wanted to follow his dreams in the construction sector and Joshua wanted to become a palaeontologist. But both men ended up working side by side at Qualco. Six months into their stint, both were sent for training.
They described the opportunity as “once in a lifetime”.
“We were exposed to the water survival training, confined space training, forklift training, the T-BOISET [Tropical Basic Offshore Safety Induction & Emergency Training], also training in blasting and painting,” Ravindra told OilNOW during an interview.
Now back on Guyana’s shores, the young men are looking forward to putting their skills to good use, and according to Joshua, pursue even higher levels of training to perfect their craft.
According to Qualco’s Snr. Vice President – New Market Development, Richard Tang, the company is gearing up to send two other Guyanese to its Louisiana base to undergo training as well. This will continue its project needs expands in Guyana, he said.
“Qualco is committed to recruiting, training and developing Guyanese nationals in the various services that we offer. Most of these oil and gas based services are new to Guyana and the required experience and expertise just does not exist. It is critical therefore for companies like Qualco to train and provide on-the-job experience to locals in order to build capacity through knowledge transfer in order to fulfil the growing market needs,” Tang relayed to OilNOW.
“This process takes time but the process must start now.”
Qualco operates Guyana’s only rope access training facility.
The primary purpose of rope access is to enable workers to access difficult-to-reach locations without scaffolding, cradles, or aerial platforms. A rope access technician will use ropes to descend, ascend, or traverse ropes while held in place by a harness, and sometimes a rope access work seat.
