Saipem launches fabrication yard in Georgetown

Jun 06, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Saipem America, a company which specialises in ship fabrication, had its opening ceremony yesterday afternoon.

One of the cranes that will be assisting in the fabrication.

President Ali while making his address.

The event saw investors and members of the private sector, as well as President Irfaan Ali, attending to take part in the ceremony and gain an insight on the company’s intentions and its presence here in Guyana. The company has been contracted by Exxon Mobil, the U.S oil giant, to assist in the fabrication of ship parts and all other assets for the offshore vessels.
Ms. Shonette Rayside, the country’s local Human Resource lead, said that Saipem has opened a door of local content opportunities for Guyana, with the fabrication yard – located in Water Street, Georgetown –contributing to local content by employing local Guyanese in its various departments. This in turn would help to create employment, develop local skills and capabilities as well as transfer knowledge. She went on to say that Saipem will collaborate with local suppliers, which will strengthen local entrepreneurship and create socio-economic value. She mentioned that the company, since being awarded the contract for Lisa One, started with one Guyanese employee. An internship programme was then launched and attracted four more employees. Since being awarded the contract for Lisa Two and Payara, the training of more local employees was needed as well as the engagement of more local sub-contractors. She said that the second internship programme was launched in 2019 and expanded the need for local employees, increasing the local employment rate to 63%. Rayside further stated that Saipem has hired approximately 43 Guyanese to assist operations, dispersed around the office, fabrication yard, and logistics base. In her closing remarks, she advised Guyanese to get educated in order to grab hold of opportunities. She said that the success of Saipem is highly dependent on the efforts of Guyanese.

The machinery at the fabrication yard.

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, in his remarks yesterday, stated that the activity is a demonstration that Guyana is open for business and that there is confidence once again in Guyana and its Government. He said that it is a demonstration of how Guyana’s oil and gas industry will be one that will be a model in the world and will be developed as a hub in the Guianas basin. He also wished the workers and members of Saipem well and explained that they have a partner in the Government of Guyana, as yet another natural resource is developed. The Minister also noted that with this partnership, benefits for Guyanese must be ensured. He encouraged all other investors to partner with the government in order to ensure these benefits arrive to all Guyanese.

President of Saipem, Giorgo Martelli.

He further mentioned that local content will not be taking anything away from investors but will only help the Government to enrich the lives of Guyanese with the new resource.“We have our work cut out too, because while we have a strong local content in place and possible legislation to ensure that benefits arrive, we as a government need to build capacity,” stated Vickram in his address.
The President of Saipem America, Giorgo Martelli, addressed the gathering after a brief introduction. Martelli expressed his gratitude towards the government as well as Exxon Mobil. He said that this is not a mere 100 meter sprint, but a 10,000 meter race in which Saipem works under the radar and builds continuously. He mentioned that the new fabrication yard has given the company a chance to show organic growth and to build step by step. He stated that, “We work in 60 countries and have seen a lot of oil and gas and energy developments and choose fabrication to drastically increase the level of contribution from the local industry.” He said that fabrication requires a high level of skills and requires you to build something that hasn’t been there before. Martelli explained that fabrication requires an induced industry as well as other services that have to develop at the same time. He stated that with the hundreds of offshore workers, 15 Guyanese are on the most sophisticated vessel offshore and are learning quickly. Martelli thanked Exxon Mobil for entrusting Saipem with such a big baton as well as the government for assisting Saipem. In his closing remarks, he mentioned that from Monday, the locally recruited yard manager, Laurence Mangar will be taking over and thanked everyone far participating in the opening.