Our licence to operate and grow as a company depends on the responsible operation of all aspects of our business, which includes our ability to work effectively with the communities in which we work. Our businesses interact with communities on a number of levels. For example, we initiate programs that help to build the capabilities of local people and enterprises so that they can benefit from our operations, through direct employment or as suppliers to the Company. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated by the engagement of local communities in our Petroleum operations in Trinidad and Tobago and Pakistan.
Angostura integrated oil and gas development, Trinidad and Tobago
The Angostura integrated oil and gas development commenced production this year. The Greater Angostura Field is located due south from Tobago and due east from the Toco District in north-eastern Trinidad. The oil will be transported via pipeline to onshore storage and marine loading facilities near Guayaguayare Bay in south-east Trinidad, for export to market.
Based on our analysis of local needs, undertaken with feedback from the community, our community programs focus on three ‘E’s – education, the environment and entrepreneurship. We are committed to maximising local involvement in development of the Greater Angostura Field, encouraging the establishment of partnerships and other collaborations between international suppliers and resident organisations to support infrastructure development, and enhancing opportunities for local Trinidad and Tobago enterprises. The following are examples of projects aimed at building local capacity.
Capacity building projects in Mayaro and Guayaguayare
The Mayaro/Guayaguayare region where our onshore terminal site is located has an unemployment rate of 24 per cent, the highest in the land. Programs have been initiated to ease unemployment and build capabilities in the local communities. Fortnightly community meetings have been held to hear the concerns of the communities, keep them abreast of our plans and find ways for them to meaningfully participate in the benefits of the project.
By working with some of our contractors, we have been able to ensure that local residents are not only employed but trained in sustainable skills such as welding, fabrication, mechanics and plumbing – and are given the chance to practise those skills. Just recently we reached a significant milestone when wages earned by local residents passed TT$1 million, and we expect that this figure will triple by the end of the project.
In addition, one of our major contractors, Carillion, has announced a new program to draw more people from the community into the workforce and provide them with industry-recognised trade qualifications.
The Company is also supporting agricultural projects that can provide sustainable benefits for the community. For example, 25 local farmers are each being provided with nearly half a hectare of land to cultivate cassava, a root crop that yields nutritious starch, the source of tapioca. The Company is assisting the project by funding the land preparation, fertilisers and training for the farmers. The aim is for the farmers to become self-sufficient in producing and marketing their own local brand of cassava. Another program supported by the Company is the livestock farming of goats and sheep, also in Double Bridge Village.
Gregory Galera, head of the Guaya Branch of the Mayaro/Guayaguayare Unemployed Organisation says, ‘BHP Billiton came in March 2003 and hasn't looked back; this is the first company to come down and meet so regularly with the people. They are doing yeoman service for the future of our entire community’.
Fabrication of the Kairi 1 platform
In planning for development of the Angostura project, invitations to tender for the well protector platforms, jackets and decks were sent to fabrication firms including four from Trinidad and Tobago. The contract to fabricate the Kairi 1 offshore platform was awarded to local company Damus Ltd in a joint venture with the US-based Gulf Island.
At six storeys high and weighing 550 tonnes, the massive structure is the largest platform fabricated in Trinidad and Tobago and the first at the La Brea Industrial Development Company industrial estate, which has a fabrication yard for the construction of large offshore structures. The contract also called for the transfer of technology and Damus engineers have travelled to Gulf Island’s facility in the US to be trained in specific areas of platform management.
Additionally, we have made a significant investment in new welding equipment
and in the training of Damus welders in flux-core welding techniques.
This is the first utilisation of
semi-automatic welding in Trinidad and Tobago. The acquisition of these skills
will make local welders more productive and can be transferred outside the
oil and gas industry.
All told, this contract translated into 110 000 work-hours for Damus and a peak workforce of 104, including project management. Most importantly, we hope that the success of this venture will pave the way for other operators to build similar topsides in Trinidad and Tobago.
The re-introduction of design engineering into the energy industry in Trinidad and Tobago
We recognised in 2002 that the re-introduction of design engineering within Trinidad and Tobago's petroleum industry was a worthy goal. Engineering capability can attract fabrication capability, and engineering skills can potentially be transferred to other parts of the economy. This industry had been absent from the economy for decades.
At the same time, based on the availability of capable engineers within Trinidad and Tobago’s petroleum sector, the Company decided that invitations to tender for design engineering should dictate that such work must be done locally. We received four bids for this work. Worley International provided the lowest-cost solution that also included the best approach to building local capability, and won the contract. Subsequently, the design for the Aripo deck and jacket was added to their scope of work.
Since this contract was awarded more than a year ago, 31 Trinidad and Tobago engineers and technical staff have been employed in the design effort, expending more than 50 000 work-hours in the process. This has provided an unusually rich learning experience, since the engineers have designed an offshore structure, an onshore terminal, a marine loading system and associated pipelines. Furthermore, they have learned to work with engineering support systems installed by Worley and have been exposed to Safety Case and quantitative risk assessment technology. Perhaps most importantly, it has demonstrated that upstream design engineering work can be undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago.
Zamzama Gas Project, Pakistan
Our Zamzama gas project in Pakistan is located in the district of Dadu, approximately 500 kilometres north of Karachi in Sindh Province. During the construction phase for the extended well test at Zamzama, labour and materials-related contracts totalling US$5.6 million were placed with Pakistani companies including Descon Engineering Ltd, Associated Constructors Ltd, Allied Engineering, NESPAK, Alstom Pakistan and Siemens Pakistan.
The engagement of local people and enterprises was also a priority in the execution of the full field development, which was completed in mid 2003. Some 3275 workers were employed at Zamzama during the peak of construction activities, with about 40 per cent being from the local area. This provided a major employment opportunity for the communities living around the plant site. On average, about 2000 local workers were employed over the total construction period of 14 months. A significant proportion of the major plant equipment was also built in local fabrication yards. It is estimated that the total Pakistani content stands at about 34 per cent of the budget for the gas processing plant and associated facilities, probably the highest ever achieved for such a development in the country.
Now that it is in the operation phase, the facility requires relatively few workers. However, at present, some 65 per cent of staff at the plant are either Dadu or Sindh residents. These people are employed in a variety of roles, from the installation manager, who is a Sindhi, to other vital roles such as operations staff (40 per cent are from Sindh), community relations officers, land officers, drivers, maintenance staff and security guards. Looking to the future, we are supporting five of our local trainee technicians in their education at the Dadu college.
Furthermore, more than 100 local people are employed through community development projects that we sponsor. Of these, nearly one third are fulfilling the vital role of being teachers at local schools. There are also doctors, health workers, instructors and support staff, all working in programs that are bringing real benefits to the people of the area.
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