Focus on turnarounds and upgrades

Trinidad and Tobago

Hafiz Ali, CEO of Weldfab, talks to The Energy Year about where the company expects to see demand for mechanical services in the coming years in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. Weldfab provides integrated mechanical services in Trinidad and the region.

In which sectors along the energy value chain do you expect the most work opportunities in the coming years?
Over the past decade, the energy industry in Trinidad has seen fewer construction and greenfield opportunities, shifting our focus to maintenance turnarounds and plant upgrades. We’ve worked on various petrochemical plants and oil refineries throughout the Caribbean. Our business is mainly generated from midstream and downstream petrochemical facilities. While we do not work directly on upstream projects as Weldfab, we participate through our associate company TOFCO.
Successful exploration and production projects that increase natural gas supply will, in turn, heighten activity in petrochemical facilities, thereby increasing demand for maintenance and turnarounds. It is our expectation that maintenance works will continue in Trinidad and Tobago and that our experience and skills will be required by our Caricom neighbours Guyana and Suriname. These emerging markets will no doubt be part of the future.

What type of demand for mechanical services do you expect to see coming from the energy industries in Guyana and Suriname?
Both Guyana and Suriname are emerging markets where we anticipate demand for tank construction, turnarounds and maintenance work, as well as expansion work for onshore oil and gas facilities. We have a strong presence in these regions, having worked in Suriname for the past 15 years and in Guyana for the past 20 years, and we are currently bidding for new projects in both countries, either directly or through one of our associate organisations.
It is our view that the demand for mechanical services will grow exponentially as the energy sector mushrooms in Guyana and Suriname. From the predictions in the market, the volume of mechanical services eventually required by both Guyana and Suriname in the next decade and beyond may be far greater than Caricom’s ability to supply.

How is Weldfab contributing to national efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
If opportunities arise in this area, we possess transferable skills. Our mechanical work, such as welding and fabrication, as well as our planning and project management capability is applicable to the renewables sector, including erecting solar panels and wind turbines. Additionally, we have dedicated approximately 100,000 square feet of our facilities as green space with several varieties of fruit trees.
Demonstrating our commitment to sustainability, we have changed hundreds of bulbs and light fixtures to energy-efficient LED ones to reduce energy consumption. Our recycling efforts include, plastics, fluorescent bulbs, hydrocarbons and electronics which are generated by our employees at their homes as well as in the office. New equipment purchased are smaller, lighter and more energy efficient. Our next project is one of solar power generation, where we intend to power sections of our facility through solar energy.

What new developments in technology and digitalisation have you implemented?
Given the lack of new construction work and an ageing workforce in Trinidad, we are heavily investing in the training and development of our present and future workers. This training and development includes technology and automation. We have updated our ERP systems to make technology more user-friendly across the organisation and coupled with this is a dedicated user training plan.
Over 50% of our paper transactions are now conducted digitally. In addition, we have focused on energy efficient equipment, automation and digitalisation of some of our fabrication capabilities and our traditional onsite activities. Our future dictates that we become more efficient to remain competitive and in this regard, we see digitalisation and technology as areas in which we see this can be achieved.

Read our latest insights on:

• Guyana
• Suriname
• Trinidad and Tobago