petroleumworld

ASCO Trinidad, a global oil and gas logistics company whose local operations are based at La Brea, has landed a contract to provide shore-base services for a drilling operation off the Falkland Islands. It is the first time that the local company is managing an operation overseas. The company has been operating in Trinidad since January 2001.

“The global downturn has seen energy companies in T&T reducing their operations. This affected ASCO Trinidad and forced the company to look for other opportunities overseas,” ASCO Trinidad said in a statement. Executive director John Gransaull set about the task of identifying opportunities. “It has been a bit difficult because of the whole downturn in the oil and gas industry,” explains Hugo Brown, assistant shore-base manager/health, safety and environment manager for the Falklands operations.

“The opportunities out there are sort of limited. You have to aggressively go out there, see what is available and market yourself.”

Falkland Islands, a big step

The statement said ASCO Trinidad previously did work in Suriname, but that operation was managed from Trinidad, making the Falklands contract a big step for the company. Four people manage the operations, working two at a time for four weeks. ASCO Trinidad has been subcontracted by Byron McKay Port Services, the contracted managers of the Falkland Islands government’s floating quayside facility, FIPASS. The statement said shore base operations entail managing the supply of equipment and materials delivered to the drilling rig and other off-shore assets. “Everything, from pipes to food, has to pass through the shore base on its way to the drilling rig, and because drilling is very costly, materials have to be shipped on time to ensure that there is no downtime offshore.

Morale booster

“The Falklands was something we were looking for and when we got it, it was a big morale booster,” said Brown, adding that it has been challenging. “When we first arrived there, there was nothing. We were starting from scratch. There were no offices, no warehouses, nothing. They were actually in the middle of constructing offices, etc. “The biggest challenge for me was not having a proper office and communication tools, like the Internet, I was actually operating out of my vehicle.”

Bracing the elements

The weather is equally challenging. “Although it is summer in the Falklands, the temperature sometimes reaches as low as 3º. It is also very windy, which poses a problem, because the cranes cannot operate in high winds. “The calmest time of the day is very early in the morning, about 3 am to 8 am. If we have urgent work to do, we actually have to start 4 am,” Brown says. “We were trying to get the base prepared before they started drilling. The rig was on the way, so we had to take night time and turn it into regular working hours.” Brown has been impressed by the work ethic of the Falklands Islands’ workers.

“We encountered crews across there that have no problem with working long hours, in the rain and so on,” he explained. “Across there, they’re working in rain and the limited daylight you get. They also multi-task. You would see someone driving a forklift one minute, next minute he is operating a crane, next minute he is driving a truck. That is a big plus, especially at the stage of the operation we are at now.” The statement said ASCO Trinidad is using the experience its people are gaining in the Falklands. After each two-week rotation, Brown and the other personnel share lessons learned with the Trinidad-based crew and formulate a plan in terms of improve its approach to other overseas opportunities.