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bpTT - Realizing the value in Local Content
REALSING THE VALUE IN LOCAL CONTENT
Sustainability is at the core of BP’s strategy in Trinidad and Tobago. The long-term sustainability and prosperity of the business in Trinidad and Tobago is dependent on our ability to create value for both the company, the country and the communities where we operate. For us, this means much more than simply providing broad economic benefits through the extraction of oil and gas and the payment of taxes. According to BP Group’s chief executive officer, Bob Dudley, it means “aligning our interests with those of local economies by using local suppliers, building local capacity and supporting local communities that is, by developing and promoting local content.”
BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) understands that by developing local content, we are actually creating and maximizing shared value for both the company and country. Utilising local suppliers can help to reduce operational costs; building local capacity can help to create better employment opportunities for nationals; and supporting local communities can help to improve the quality of life of residents while also securing our licence to operate. Developing local content therefore, is a strategic imperative.
BPTT’s local content strategy governs the company’s approach to local content development. The strategy has five key focus areas:
Capacity building and technology transfer; entities in the sector;
Participation of Trinidadians and locally owned and services;
Procurement and usage of locally produced goods and services;
Fabrication and manufacturing in-country and
Socio-economic responsibilities (CSR).
We have made several strides in developing local content in Trinidad and Tobago.
Underpinning the success of the strategy has been our social investments in education that have helped to build capacity (human capital development), and transfer technology to nationals. This increases local participation in the energy sector and other areas of the economy. Education provision proved to be a critical driver in local content development due to the gap between the skills and capability already existing in country and what was needed in the energy
sector. However, while there was an immediate and urgent need to satisfy the demands for technical skills both in the onshore and offshore energy industry, given the long-term nature of our business, BPTT has made strategic interventions at every level of the education sector aimed at creating a globally competitive talent pipeline for the energy industry and beyond it.
BPTT has helped to transform the education landscape in its host community of Mayaro - home to the company’s two onshore operating sites. We introduced the Brighter Prospects Scholarship and A’level award programme to aid Mayaro students in their pursuit of higher education at accredited institutions in Trinidad and regionally. The scholarship assists students with travel, rent, books and food expenses for the duration of their education programme.
Claire Fitzpatrick, Regional President of BPTT, (right) hands over a cheque valued at 1MTTD to Professor Andrew Jupiter (left) in support of the UWI Geoscience Programme.
Sixteen years later, more than 550 students have received scholarships. Students performance shows a 96% success rate.
Recognizing that the energy sector only employs around 4% of the labour force, BPTT’s Brighter Prospects scholars are free to pursue any field of study at the tertiary level. Our Brighter Prospects graduates can be found working in all sectors of the economy. For example, whereas BPTT has directly benefitted from employing engineering graduates, hospitals have gained doctors and nurses, schools have gained teachers, the judicial system, lawyers. The Brighter Prospects programme is contributing to the sustainability of the broader socio-economic fabric of the country and this is critical to the long-term sustainability of BP in Trinidad and Tobago.
Vocational skills are also in high demand in energy sector, especially offshore and in other arenas. Cognizant of this, BPTT has established relationships with local organisations in Mayaro to provide residents with certification training in various vocations including but not limited to rigging and lifting, banksman/slinger, painter/blaster, scaffolding and fire watcher. Specialised offshore safety training is also offered. Hundreds of Mayaro residents benefit from these types of training annually. A special partnership with the Kenson School of Production in 2013, has produced graduates with the advanced diploma in Oil and Gas Process Technician and Instrumentation certification. This has led to the progressive nationalization of the offshore workforce as hundreds of persons have been able to gain certification and employment at BPTT’s and other offshore facilities and in other industries in Trinidad and abroad.
At the national level we are exceedingly proud of our longstanding partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI). In response to the dearth of geoscientist globally and nationally, in the early 2000s BPTT and a consortium of its energy partners alongside the UWI created the Petroleum Geoscience Programme. The company has invested millions of dollars in the programme over the last 17 years in support of developing human and technical resources, research and development (R&D) and scholarships. Critical to the success of the programme is the facilitation of the transfer of knowledge from the company to the university. BPTT employees provide curriculum input and course instruction, ensuring that the programme keeps abreast of the latest developments and standards in geoscience globally. Students are also able to pursue internships at BPTT where they gain work experience and exposure to the latest technology while completing their final year projects. The programme has produced hundreds of graduates some of whom work locally at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, BPTT and other energy companies in Trinidad, and internationally.
While local content is defined by the employment of local citizens, local resources and materials, BPTT’s approach has been to invest in the training and education that ensures a competitive domestic supply of local labour for the local and international energy sector. More importantly, the company is equipping nationals to be able to provide the resources, materials and services that would otherwise be externally sourced. BPTT’s approach takes an optimal view of Local Content policy and delivery.
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