One year after a joint venture between Trinidad Offshore Fabricators Unlimited (TOFCO) and Guyana Oil and Gas Support Services (GOGSSI), the company has landed a big project with ExxonMobil’s prime contractor Saipem and is looking to hire key staff.
“TOFCO were the ones who had done the first project and we have worked to create this joint venture company and train locals to do the same thing,” GOGSSI-TOFCO Director, Nicholas Boyer told Stabroek News yesterday when contacted.
The company has placed advertisements for a General Manager and Office Manager.
“We are looking for general managers and other administrative personnel. We have the technical people working in the fabrication yard at present and plans are on stream to train more. So we are growing to the point we now need additional admin staff; where I can’t handle the day to day, we will have the needed specialized persons,” he added.
For persons interested in the Office Manager and General Manager positions being advertised, the company requires at least three to five years of working experience in the specified role and a degree in either Business or Accounting Management.
The Office Manager will be “responsible for the preparation and management of the office accounts, budgets, liaison with staff, suppliers and clients, implementing and maintaining office administrative procedures and systems. The Office Manager is responsible for keeping the office running smoothly and overseeing administrative support. The job can range widely in duties and responsibilities, from reception, copy editing and support to handling a specific type of paperwork or filing for a specific department.”
The General Manager is “responsible for leading the organization and creating value by determining long-term sustainable growth opportunities in utilizing the assets, personnel and capabilities of GOGSSI-TOFCO JV as well as collaborating with the owner companies to utilize their personnel and assets on joint venture projects. The General Manager must be able to drive the company to a lead position within the industry in Guyana, grow the business and create value with reliable long-term sustainability”.
With this country’s over-10 billion barrels of oil reserve and continuing exploration, Boyer says that the company “sees the future as investing in and developing the Guyanese workforce”.
He noted that when GOGSSI wanted to enter the oil and gas industry it had looked for areas that were not adequately covered by local companies and sought out ways for local participation. “What we were able to do was find partners and they brought in the oil and gas experience and helped to close some of those gaps,” he explained.
“The idea is to have the TOFCO staff, who are big with fabrication right now, train the local Guyanese staff who will be the ones in the future doing the fabrication. That allowed us to meet the demands of the oil and gas industry. Local content is something important for the operator and something important for the Guyanese community. So the ripple effects are huge. This partnership allows us to train Guyanese welders so they can participate in the oil and gas industry,” he added.
Kick off
While the company was formed in 2019, Boyer said that the “real kick off came with the project from Saipem”.
“We will be training welders soon and have already starting building Guyanese riggers and scaffolders”, he said, while noting that at present there are about 15 to 18 persons being trained.
He sees it as a big increase from one year ago.
Overall, the joint venture has about 70 employees and it is Boyer’s hope that those numbers swiftly increase as there is more work in the industry.
Boyer said that GOGSSI-TOFCO is able to do mechanical and electrical engineering and particularly focuses on welding fabrication.
The company, according its Director, also depends heavily on local manufacturers for the materials needed and then local labour to get the services to complete its projects.
“Most of our clients have schedules and to meet those schedules, we need products and services that are immediately right now in country. One of the key differentiators for us as a country, is our project management. But also, one of our core assets is our personnel,” he said.
TOFCO was responsible for building the subsea pipeline for the Liza-1 well and on its website it says that the company also provides “incomparable value in service and products using cutting-edge technology, creates culture of leadership and support where safety of people is of foremost priority, empowers local workforce and community through training, education, and career development, integrates efficiencies amongst engineering, project management and scheduling processes and cultivates a progressive management/employee relationship with emphasis on teamwork.”
Among the services offered are the pre-fabrication and installation services for midstream facility maintenance and new construction projects, labour services including fitters, fabricators, welders, riggers, blasters, painters, scaffolders, electricians and instrumentation technicians.
“Our engineers provide consulting and constructability reviews as well as project management and offshore and onshore superintendent expertise,” the website states.
In the offshore area, it notes the company as “the largest provider in the Caribbean of platform construction services.”
“TOFCO’s labour services offer turnarounds and shut in work for various platform needs, including structural steel and piping installation, equipment installation, coatings services and electrical and instrumentation for facility maintenance repairs,” it adds.
