Wholly-owned Guyanese oil and gas recruitment company making major inroads; complies with international maritime labour standards

Last Updated on Monday, 24 February 2020, 20:54 by Writer

The 100 percent-owned Guyanese recruitment company, Pandora Energy, says it has made significant progress in hiring Guyanese to work on vessels associated with the exploration and production of oil in Guyana and several other countries, after initially experiencing stiff foreign competition.

“For some time, we found it difficult to secure contracts to provide manpower services to the offshore clients operating in Guyana. The Management persevered and continued to knock on doors and was determined to make it in the new sector. Foreign Competitions with a track record in the industry continue to be our biggest challenge,” the company said in a statement.

Pandora Energy said it became one of the first Guyanese labor providers for seafarers in Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, and Peru. In its latest move to firmly establish a foothold in recruitment for the oil and gas sector, the company said it is now compliant with international standards of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006. “Armed now with MLC 2006 certification, we are poised to place manpower on ocean going vessels. Our company wishes to reiterate that without our oil and gas customers, we cannot survive as a business and plan to continue to employ Guyanese nationals.”

The company added that with its sum experience and the confidence of its clients in their ability and capacity to provide reliable and competent seafarers, it is set to become a certified MLC 2006 compliant company.

“We engaged an external assessor from Panama to audit the systems of Pandora Energy as a Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006 certified company and when audit was completed, Pandora Energy was compliant in accordance with The Seafarers Recruitment and Placement Service Providers (SRPSP) and in Accordance with the Regulation 1.4, Standard A1.4 and Guideline B1.4 of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) 2006,” Pandora Energy said.

Pandora Energy, which was established in 2017, to service operators and tier one contractors such as floating drillship operators, jack-up rig, platform supply vessels, construction vessels, fast supply vessels, and other forms of ocean going vessels, credited its steep success to Harvey Gulf International Marine which worked for the United Kingdom-headquartered Tullow Oil which last year drilled exploratory wells offshore Guyana.

“We were first given a big break with Harvey Gulf International Marine, who contracted us to provide seafarers to the MV Harvey Power and MV Harvey Eagle on the Tullow Drilling Program offshore of Guyana at the Orinduik Block on their two wells,” Pandora said.

Pandora said that has created an opportunity for Guyanese seafarers to gain employment and acquire international experience in Trinidad on the MV Harvey Sailor, working on the Repsol project on the Carapa-1 well offshore of Guyana.

Furthermore, Pandora said Guyanese gained employment through working on the MV Harvey Champion and MV Harvey Supporter on the Apache Drilling Program in Suriname. The Guyanese company said Guyanese Seafarers were also placed on MV Miss Megan, MV Seahorse 11, and MV Atlantic Spirit for work on seismic projects offshore of Guyana via Inland Offshore Contractors Limited (IOCL).

Pandora Energy said recently, six Guyanese were granted permission to board the MV Harvey Carrier and MV Harvey Supplier in Peru, working on the Karoon Drilling Project which is currently ongoing.

The company thanked its clients who invested in Pandora Energy and the Guyanese seafarers who are continuing to build their capacity with international experience.