Kenny Bissoon’s career has taken him from petrochemical plants in Trinidad to shipyards in Singapore and China, but bringing the ONE GUYANA floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel online in his home country stands out as a defining moment.
“The ONE GUYANA FPSO was constructed between Singapore and China,” Bissoon explained. “My role as a system owner was to be the interface between construction and commissioning… responsible for the topside process modules’ completion.”
He described mechanical completion as confirming that the vessel’s physical construction met its design, followed by commissioning, “a slew of testing to verify that it works for design”.
Bissoon spent 18 months in Singapore, where he started commissioning work before sailing with the vessel from South Africa to Guyana. Offshore, his team followed a strict sequence: utilities first then hydrocarbon systems. “We installed the seawater lift pump so we could bring seawater to the FPSO to start utility systems… then we prepared the separation train to receive well fluids from subsea.”
Once interfaces between subsea and topside were aligned and personnel trained, the facility started up. Early flaring was needed to commission the gas compressors. “ONE GUYANA has more spare compressors on each train compared to previous FPSOs,” Bissoon said. “It’s much more machinery to commission.”
After commissioning compressors, the team began injecting gas and water into the reservoir while processing crude for offloading.
For Bissoon, the project carries personal significance. He left Guyana years ago to work in Trinidad’s petrochemical industry. “There was no way for me to practice as an engineer in Guyana… it saddened me that I had to leave my family,” he explained.
Now, he is contributing to an industry that, in his view, can change that reality for future generations. “No engineer… is going to be in the position where they’ve got to leave Guyana to make a living for their family,” he said. “We probably got more opportunities now than we ever had… We never had a shortage of dreams, just a shortage of opportunities.”
He urged Guyanese to act decisively. “This is a very technical industry… there will be a learning curve, but that’s not a handicap. If you want to get in, get in. Don’t wait for people to give you anything… have the initiative and the drive to get up and go get it.”
Bissoon’s message is clear: seize the moment. “We’ve got to take ownership of our success… and not let opportunities slip us by.”
