Four Government Technical Institute (GTI) graduates are benefitting from hands-on training in the oil and gas industry through a programme facilitated by El Dorado Offshore (EDO).
According to a press release from the Department of Public Information (DPI), EDO’s Country Manager, Kerri Gravesande stated that the programme will run for six months and is aimed at empowering young people and is part of EDO’s local content development plan to bring awareness of opportunities in the oil and gas industry. She added that at the end of the programme, two of the participants will secure positions on the Stena Rig which is conducting exploration drilling, while the other two will have an opportunity to work on future vessels.
Principal of GTI, Renita Crandon-Duncan, said partnering with EDO has provided “tons of opportunities for our students”.
“Most importantly, our students have to partake in industrial attachments and El Dorado Offshore has been able to give us those opportunities for our students, so that they can be able to actually marry and match the things they would have learnt in the classroom with the work experience itself,” Crandon-Duncan explained.
GTI’s Principal noted that the existing programmes offered by the institute can suit the needs of the offshore business and it is using feedback to better tailor them so that will be effective in the workforce, according to the statement. Crandon-Duncan added that there has been a “tremendous rush” for courses offered by the institute particularly in engineering, and there are also plans to introduce ones specific to the oil industry.
In August, the trainees, including Derick Mingo, Gerald Moonsammy and Randy Gittens, all graduates of GTI’s Building and Civil Engineering Programme completed a three-day offshore safety induction and emergency training at Flack Nutec Safety Services in Trinidad and Tobago, according to the press release. They will work alongside ExxonMobil’s Rig Clerk when they spend their two weeks on the Stena Carron where they will oversee materials being shipped to and from the rig. They will also be mentored when they work alongside Exxon’s Offshore Logistics Coordinator.
