Trinidad’s state-owned helicopter service supporting Spanish oil company’s work offshore Guyana

Last Updated on Sunday, 22 May 2022, 17:05 by Denis Chabrol

Trinidad and Tobago’s state-owned National Helicopter Services Limited is supporting research work offshore Guyana by the Spanish exploration company, REPSOL, the twin-island nation’s Prime Minister said Sunday.

“Our National Helicopter Service, which is the helicopter service that we use here in Trinidad and Tobago in our system, on Saturday confirmed its third- not its first or second but its third contract to begin to service the REPSOL fields offshore in Guyana so we are in at this level,” he told a news conference shortly after returning from a one-week visit to Guyana for a Caribbean Agriculture Expo.

Guyana’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) states that REPSOL has been conducting geotechnical survey activities in the Kanuku Block from January 1  to June 30, 2022  in a 22.10 square kilometre area more than 125 kilometres from the coast.

The National Helicopter Services Limited, once a part of the Ministry of National Security,  is a joint venture between the Government of Trinidad and Tobago  as an 82% shareholder, and the state-owned National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) holding the remaining 18% of the issued share capital.

Dr Rowley said that Trinidad and Tobago, with its more than 100- year long experience in the hydrocarbon sector, is already involved in a major way in Guyana’s oil sector which he described as a “major” producer. “You would be surprised to know how much Trinidad and Tobago is already involved in that,” he said.

With two Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels in operation in the Stabroek Block by ExxonMobil, Guyana is aiming to produce more than 300,000 barrels per day of light sweet crude.

The Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister boasted that Guyana’s government and the private sector have been tapping into his country’s expertise in the oil and gas sector. “Our long involvement in oil and gas production is finding notice by the government and the technical people and those who are in the field in Guyana who need services that we can provide,” he said.

Dr Rowley sought to assure that his administration would work closely with Guyana for the benefit of the South American nation’s oil sector in the same way that Guyana looks to Trinidad and Tobago’s manufacturing, banking and insurance sectors.