Massy Gas Products Guyana Ltd (MGPGL) has announced that the company is set to make a multi-million US dollar investment in the expansion of its capacity to produce liquid oxygen and nitrogen in order to meet the needs of what, going forward, will be the demands of the country’s economy, principally, its oil & gas sector.
“MGPG sees itself as the gas solution for the Guyana market. The oil and gas industry is new to Guyana and our research suggests that the oil and gas providers have a need for gases in the execution of their work and we are positioning ourselves to be the supplier,” the company’s Chief Executive Officer Lekhnarine Shivraj told the Stabroek Business on Monday during an engagement that included senior officials of the company.
What is now MGPGL, formerly Demerara Oxygen Company Ltd (DOCOL), was incorporated in 1948, its current location being Old Road, Eccles, on the East Bank Demerara. Prior to its acquisition by Massy, DOCOL was involved in the manufacture and supply of oxygen and acetylene gases locally for industrial and medical purposes. Subsequently, nitrogen and nitrous oxide and other gases were added to the company’s product portfolio. During the 1970’s, DOCOL entered into the market for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) under the brand name Tex Gas.
The announcement of a multi-million dollar investment commitment here by the Massy Group, is one of the more recent local or international investment-related responses to Guyana’s now fast growing oil & gas sector. It comprises civil works, the creation of an Air Separation Unit, the installation of storage tanks for gases, filling racks, electrical infrastructure including a backup generator set, and a fire-suppression infrastructure.
Back in 2014, the Neal and Massy Group had embarked on a rebranding exercise which resulted in the Group becoming known as the Massy Group. Simultaneously, DOCOL was renamed Massy Gas Products Guyana Ltd.
This most recent major multi-million dollar investment disclosure underscores the extent to which the advent of Guyana’s oil and gas industry is attracting a fast-accelerating level of investor interest arising out of the country having become a significant oil and gas producer.
The MGPG Chief Executive told the Stabroek Business, however, that while the oil & gas industry represents its biggest target market, Massy was also keen to satisfy other critical areas of the local market. According to Shivraj, MGPG currently satisfies the local medical and industrial markets whose demand includes liquid nitrogen, oxygen, acetylene, helium, nitrous oxide, argon, carbon dioxide, ammonium gases, and medical equipment. The company also markets liquid petroleum gas (cooking gas) under the brand name Rubis.
Shivraj told the Stabroek Business, meanwhile, that the company continues to make valuable contributions to the various other sectors the country, not least to local medical facilities, schools and other institutions as it enjoins the national fight to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the 1970’s the company entered the market for LPG and their investment in the business saw the automation of the process used to fill the cylinders.
Styling itself “a local company,” MGPG will be celebrating its 75th anniversary next year. A Brief made available to Stabroek Business by the company says that all of its ninety-seven employees are Guyanese and that its operations include the use of contractors and their employees carrying out maintenance on cylinders and delivery of products. “We work with people to create entrepreneurs,” Shivraj told Stabroek Business.
Meanwhile, Shivraj says that MGPGL’s is keen to provide assurances of the company’s steadfast commitment to the highest standards of safety and health as reflected in its rigorous training programmes and uncompromising safety protocols.
