Back row, from left: Kenny Bisoon, Ajmer Samaroo, De Vaughn Lewis, and Leobert Paul. Front row, from left: Gerald Gilgeous, Alexandria Williams, Jenell Williams-Pindar and Tandi Jones.
August 20 2019
Eight young Guyanese working with ExxonMobil and its subcontractors are proud that they have been afforded the opportunity to work towards transforming their country.
In a series of interviews facilitated by the oil major last week, the eight, who are currently employed by ExxonMobil, Schlumberger and TechnipFMC, spoke with Stabroek News about their journey in the oil industry thus far.
They are Facilities Engineers Kenny Bissoon and Ajmer Samaroo, who are employed by ExxonMobil; Health and Safety and Quality Specialist Jenell Williams-Pindar of TechnipFMC; and Training and Development Officer Tandi Jones, Mechanical Technician Gerald Gilgeous, Health and Safety Specialist De Vaughn Lewis, Fluid Plant Operator Leobert Paul and Mechanical Technician Trainee Alexandria Williams, who are attached to Schlumberger.
Bissoon, 32, related that just after finishing ‘A’ Levels, he really wanted to get into engineering and got a job at the [Guyana Power and Light Company] in 2006, where he spent the next five years working while also studying mechanical engineering at the University of Guyana (UG). After graduating, he spent about two more years in Guyana doing a management training programme with the company before he “purposefully” departed Guyana for Trinidad, where he entered the oil and gas industry.
He said he started working as a project engineer in the downstream petro-chemical sector, where he remained for a number of years.
“Just in 2015, when we get the big discovery, I was like ‘you know, this is my chance to come back home’ and as fate would have it, reading the newspapers in the morning just normal, I see the vacancy for Exxon. I send in the application and couple weeks later, they called and I was hired as a facilities engineer,” Bissoon recalled.
He said his decision to return to Guyana and work in the developing oil and gas industry is something he feels really happy and proud about, given that the position is going to not only allow him, but all of the Guyanese in the group, to impact how the country transforms over the years.
“I am really happy about that because it is so much more than getting into an engineering position and doing something that I like. I like my job but the added bonus is that the impact this thing will have in transforming this country is the proudest thing for me. This is the chance I am getting, being part of the Exxon family and this really wrapped everything really nice for us,” he added.
Bissoon has been with ExxonMobil for a little over a year but said he is looking forward to the decades ahead of living his dream of not only being an engineer in the oil and gas industry, but being one for his country.
Meanwhile, 30-year-old Samaroo’s route involved leaving Guyana when he was 18 to study in New York, where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering before returning and working for BK Construction and Banks DIH as an engineer for two years.
He left again and went to the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, where he did a master’s degree in environmental engineering. After that, he said, following ExxonMobil’s first commercial oil find offshore Guyana in 2015, he was encouraged by his father to find an occupation in the industry.
Samaroo then worked at Massy Wood Group – an oil services company – in Trinidad but said his goal was always to return home and serve the country. He applied for the Facilities Engineer post at ExxonMobil last year March after noticing a vacancy on Facebook.
“It has been really good so far. The training is top-notch, big safety culture and a lot of focused mindsets. Even in Trinidad it was good and then coming here, it was even better. I’ve been moving for the purpose of coming home back so it is definitely something to stay stable in. The opportunity wasn’t there first but Guyana has always had a soft spot in my heart,” Samaroo said.
A real blessing
For Jones, of Schlumberger, the road to the oil industry in Guyana also involved foreign shores. She said she left Guyana when she was eight years old for London and then New York, where she went to university and obtained three degrees – an undergraduate degree in economics, a master’s degree in human resources and a degree in adult education.
Jones said that she has always been looking for a job that would allow her to travel abroad and develop herself and that was why she sought to work at Schlumberger. She started in Houston, where she was employed in several positions, before moving to the Middle East and Abu Dhabi for about two and a half years. Part of her responsibilities was training and development for a team in the Middle East. After that, she returned to Houston, where she was a recruiter for about a year and a half.
“When I first heard about oil and gas, I was in the Middle East and I said to myself, I knew we had oil in Guyana. I’ve been telling my parents that since I joined Schlumberger and I was glad we finally found it,” she said. Right after the discovery was made, Jones said she made calls to Schlumberger’s management team to register her interest in moving back to Guyana.
The company approved and Jones returned in March and was pleasantly surprised at the state of the industry and the infrastructure.
“I wasn’t expecting our base and operations to be so robust. I wasn’t expecting us to have so many local Guyanese. Schlumberger is hard in terms of hiring locally. We recruit where we work and so that was a pleasant surprise and the fact that I can contribute to that and making sure that Guyanese get the exposure from all the talent we have in our company. It has been a real blessing for me,” she said, while adding that she is here and committed to staying and developing the country for the foreseeable future.
Gilgeous, also a Schlumberger employee, related that he studied electrical and mechanical engineering at UG and the Government Technical Institute. He also studied project management and underwent training in fitting engineering. The 33-year-old mechanical technician was employed at the Transport and Harbours Department for a number of years and was also able to access training in oil and gas from Kaizen and Apollo Global early last year.
“From there, Schlumberger popped up and I told myself after practicing mechanics for so many years, let me try something new, let me see what this industry has to offer and I sent my application to El Dorado Offshore and Schlumberger found it,” the trained diesel and gasoline engineer said.
After being hired, Gilgeous said he has been trained extensively in a number of areas, including using overhead cranes, lifting, working in confined space, working at heights. He also noted being exposed to a safety culture of a different level.
“The training goes far and there’s no limit with what they would invest in you once you show potential to be an asset to the company. I am only there just nine months…there’s nothing that can limit you and if you’re at one stage all the time, it is because you choose to be that way,” he said.
Gilgeous added that the industry requires a lot of hard work, dedication and focus, and while the nine months have been challenging, he is happy that he took the step and is still excited about working in the industry.
Sugar to oil
Paul, 22, leapt from sugar to oil. Prior to being employed at Schlumberger, he was employed at the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s Skeldon Estate, working in the lab. After the estate closed, he said, he reached out to TOTALTEC, an oil and gas training company, where he was able to access training in the industry.
His only qualification was a secondary school diploma from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) but Paul has been able to take up a post as a Fluid Plant Operator and is now a trained Fluids Specialist – an occupation that usually requires an engineering degree.
However, according to Jones, once the company sees potential in the applicants, they hire and train them. Initially, Paul was hired to be an operator, but his manager noticed his potential and pushed him to go to Houston, Texas, to train to become a Fluids Specialist.
For 22-year-old Williams, her entry into the industry has been an eye-opener, especially as she is the only female in her section. Williams, a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, graduated from the Ogle-based Art Williams & Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School in December and said she was interested in moving to the oil and gas industry since it was something she always wanted to be a part of.
She applied to Schlumberger and received a letter a few months later and then went to training in Trinidad as a mechanical technician in the wireline area of operation.
“I’ve been doing some on the job training, learning the tools, how they work, and how to maintain them. I’ve spent two months so far at Schlumberger and it has been an interesting two months,” she said, while noting that she can see herself in the field for a long time.
For 38-year-old Lewis, the chance to work in the oil and gas industry at Schlumberger is an opportunity he is revelling in.
Lewis has a Project Management Degree from the University of Roehampton and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree from the University of Liverpool. Prior to joining the oil and gas industry, he worked in disaster management and development of youths at the Red Cross for 17 years.
“A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to move into the oil and gas industry and he asked me to send my CV and I sent it to El Dorado Offshore and within a couple of days, I received a call asking for me to be interviewed as the Health and Safety Specialist for Schlumberger. I took that leap and I went to the interview and couple days after, they sent me an offer letter. I took it that same day and next day, I was out to Trinidad for training,” he said.
Lewis spent one month in Trinidad and Tobago doing on-the-job training, learning the standards and rules and about the tools within the oil and gas industry.
After that, he was able to be out in the fields at the different bases in the country, learning the different operations and how they work before he returned home to take up the position of the Health and Safety Specialist.
“It’s a great responsibility but every day I am enjoying that responsibility,” said Lewis, who has been with the company for a year and a month.
Williams-Pindar said she has found her niche in the oil industry. She related that she studied Environmental Studies at UG and after graduating, was employed by the Massy Group as a Quality Assurance Officer, where she was also exposed to other disciplines.
After leaving the company, she found employment with construction firm BK, where she worked for about two years. However, she was not satisfied with her degree and was eventually able to obtain a scholarship from the University of Delhi, where she studied Environmental Studies with a minor in Toxicology. She then returned to Guyana, where she lectured at UG for about a year before the first oil and gas conference grabbed her interest.
After seeing a presentation by TechnipFMC, she quickly put together her CV and submitted it. After a few months, she was called for an interview and was hired as the Health and Safety and Quality Specialist and has been with them for a year and four months now.
Williams-Pindar said that she has not only found her niche and it isn’t that she wasn’t satisfied before but always knew there was “more out there…and I found my more.”
It has been said that Guyanese are not qualified for jobs in the industry but the group said that such a statement is misinformed. They emphasised that regardless of which company persons are employed by, they will still have to be trained further, as is the case with everyone.
Jones said that not only do they look for technical ability, but also competency, drive, initiative and a certain mindset.
