Young Guyanese are being trained to work on FPSOs at the Guyana Technical Training College Incorporated (GTTCI) and its Facility Simulator (FACTOR) oil and gas training facility, Port Mourant, Berbice. This is the realisation of President Irfaan Ali’s commitment to develop Guyanese skills for the expanding oil and gas sector.
Recently Foreign Secretary Robert M. Persaud, who’s a former Minister of Natural Resources and Environment visited the training facility and was updated by Professor Clem Sankatt and FACTOR Training Centre Manager Shaagul Hameeth on the activities and plans for the facility’. The first cohort of twenty-five (25) trainees are now being trained and will work on the FPSOs representing a major step in Guyana’s local content push.
FacTor (Facility Simulator) is a secure, fully operational live process plant that replicates the functions of an actual plant. It includes a Central Control Room (CCR), a marshalling cabinet, and a motor control center (MCC) cabinet, all powered by the latest DCS control system.
The simulator is designed for training, coaching, and assessment activities, allowing trainees to gain experience in operations, troubleshooting, and maintenance tasks such as loop testing, stroke checks, and calibration. Trainees also follow a permit-to-work system and adhere to the same procedures and work orders as in real-world installations as part of a Safe System of Work. This serves as the final preparation by the Port Mourant-based GTTCI and its FACTOR oil and gas training facility in collaboration with Exxon and SBM to ready students for work on FPSOs offshore.
This initiative, Persaud said, will not only boost government’s drive to ensure more Guyanese take up jobs in the oil and gas sector but will also attract the second-generation diaspora to utilize the expanding opportunities in the country.
