80 Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme students graduate with 40% going on to full-time employment in the oil and gas industry within two to three weeks of completion.
The Prime Minister of Guyana, Mark Phillips, has officially opened the 3t EnerMech Guyana Training Centre of Excellence, on Friday, 2nd September 2022. During the event, graduates of the centre’s Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme received their qualification certificates, with 40% securing full-time employment in the oil and gas sector within two to three weeks following the training.
Joined by over 300 guests, the Guyanese Government delegation, which included US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, Hon. Vickram Outar Bharrat, Minister of Natural Resources, Bishop Juan Edghill, Minister of Public Works and Hon. Sonia Savitri Parag, Minister of the Public Service, received a VIP tour of the country’s first oil and gas training facility.
The $20 million Lusignan base was constructed by the local ODITC joint venture (JV) formed between Guyana’s Orinduik Development Incorporated, Windsor Technologies and 3t EnerMech. The state-of-the-art centre features blended learning software and technology for high hazard activity training, skills hall, a welding, and fabrication shop, rigging and lifting areas and a 14ft deep sea survival pool.
It is the first facility in Guyana to be accredited to deliver OPITO training for rigger, banksman and slinger skills and will soon also add Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training and firefighting emergency response to its portfolio. It has also signed an exclusive agreement with the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) to be the only facility to carry out its courses in country.
The teaching hub was established to empower and provide Guyanese locals with key skills and training certifications that are required to work in the offshore environment without having to travel to the US, Brazil, or Trinidad.
Since opening, 10 Guyanese nationals have been hired and there are plans for more opportunities as demand for courses increases. Of the current Guyanese training staff, three are graduating students who recently completed the ECITB GOAL programme and have now been employed as trainee instructors.