Forty (40) Guyanese mariners are being trained in occupational safety for jobs in the offshore oil and gas industry by Edison Chouest Offshore in collaboration with El Dorado Offshore.
Director of El Dorado Offshore, Natasha Jairam-Abai said the company is hoping to double the number of persons trained in the next six months to supply ExxonMobil’s third drillship that will be conducting exploration in the Stabroek Block later this year.
The workers will also be placed on Edison Chouest vessels which supplies Exxon’s offshore operations. “These set here will accommodate for those three vessels with additional persons for other persons as well,” Jairam-Abai said.
El Dorado Offshore has more than 100 Guyanese working on board the drill rigs and the Edison Chouest supply vessels. This is the fifth training facilitated by Edison Chouest, HSE Coordinator Eldon Thompson noted.
The course provides the rules and regulations of Edison Chouest Offshore, including safety features like line handling risk assessment, safe work policies among others when working onboard the vessels.
Some 53 Guyanese are working on Edison Chouest vessels. Business Development Manager of Edison Chouest, Daniel LaFont, noted the company has nine vessels supply ExxonMobil operations.
LaFont notes the company will soon incorporate an office in Guyana under the name ‘G Boats’ which will include Guyanese on the workforce. LaFont added, “training is important and training cost so we believe highly in doing that. It is important for the industry to have the proper training for safety so everyone comes home.”
Edison Chouest will be providing ‘Train the Trainers’ training so that Guyanese can facilitate in-house training. He expressed his satisfaction with the work ethic of Guyanese. “We have been extremely pleased with our Guyanese employees. They have done extremely well. We’ve had nothing but good reports from the Captains on our vessels who are working directly with them.”
