Offshore Safety More Essential than Ever

Q: How is the Mexican oil and gas industry executing essential activities during COVID-19?

A: We have to be very clear when defining what exactly means “essential activity.” These are determined by the law. This is important because companies insist on claiming their activities as essential when they are not. The opposite also happens when companies that might think of themselves as non-essential have to be informed of their essential nature, for instance the offshore oil and gas industry, even when the activities might have slowed down due to the current oil price situation, as long as this world and this nation is powered mainly by those commodities, these activities will continue to be categorized as essential regardless. As a consequence, our training center has remained open throughout these crises. Personnel sent offshore require safety training regardless of the context under which they are sent. Obviously, these training courses are compliant with all safety recommendations: we moved furniture around so people could maintain a safe distance from each other, class sizes were reduced from a maximum of 16 students to a maximum of nine, the use of face masks is compulsory and people are screened by having their temperatures taken, among other measures. All of this is recorded through varied volumes of paperwork. Despite the essential role that we play, our operational volumes have decreased considerably. This is particularly unfortunate given the fact that, up to April, we were having an exceptionally successful year. Now we are attempting to minimize the economic impact on our balance sheets as all companies around the world. We are also finding new ways of supporting ourselves through digital tools and platforms.  

Q: How are you bridging the gap between in-person safety courses and online safety courses?

A: To accomplish this, we first had to work extensively with certifying authorities. Our main course, the T-BOSIET takes three days to complete. Two of those days cover theoretic principals and one is hands-on practice. To avoid gatherings, we proposed to the certifying authorities that we would structure the course so that the theory could be covered virtually and the practice sessions could be covered on a more individual basis. The first answer we got to this proposal was a resounding no. As the pandemic advanced and got worse, they became more flexible and began working with us to adapt all processes to the new reality. Finally, they accepted our proposal. The practical aspect of our course is necessary to certify offshore personnel, but it can be scheduled and taken individually at the student’s convenience within a 60- to 90-day period after virtually completing the theoretical part of the course.

Q: How agile and effective is the Mexican oil and gas industry when it comes to implementing new safety measures and protocols into its daily operations?

A: Our client portfolio includes a variety of operators and we have seen a great reaction from them to this emergency. They began implement ting health and safety measures a long time before the Mexican government required it. This is thanks to the corporate guidelines that were being dictated by their office headquarters in the US and Europe. Between January and February, we were following the same protocols as our clients. In addition to this, the response by Mexico’s state governments has been effective. The state of Campeche, for example, is ranked third for the lowest reported cases of COVID-19. From our perspective, we have witnessed an effective rollout of temperature checkpoints, PPE-use requirements, transitions to home office modalities and other relevant health and safety measures from all companies and state authorities in the sector. Some companies are even contemplating maintaining home office protocols permanently for some of their employees given the positive results from this change.

Q: Which clients and projects do you expect will be drivers in your portfolio?

A: Prominent operators and service providers their continues to play a key role in our portfolio as we pass through this crisis. Activity within these contracts has obviously been temporarily reduced. This has led to a delay in our 2020 development plans, which included the construction and inauguration of a second training center. This has not been canceled but merely pushed back due to these circumstances. This second training center is a result of the growth in deepwater operations based out of hubs in the northern region. We recognized that we were becoming increasingly short of meeting the market’s demand in that segment. We noticed how our clients began to establish their presence in other states besides Campeche to address their potential deepwater contracts. We needed to make sure we already had a contract ready for them through our global corporate headquarters before they arrived in Mexico. Many operators and IOCs want to make sure all of their safety training needs are met onsite by only one service provider that they are familiar with. These companies need a local partner in Mexico to help them navigate the regulatory framework for safety requirements in deepwater offshore operations, which in Mexico involves regulators such as SEMAR and SCT. We have an information and compliance office here that can compare international offshore requirements with their Mexican counterparts. Deepwater open sea conditions, which include a lower temperature component to consider, dictate the need for additional modules for our usual T-BOSIET course, which includes training in the use of a Compressed Air Emergency Breathing System (CAEBS). This is one of the additional services that will be available at this second training center.

We were also hoping to expand our Ciudad del Carmen training center. This project remains on our schedule and we will continue working on it as the industry’s activities begin to reactivate. We also began imparting the WellSharp course this year after being certified last year. This allows us to expand our market share.

These are extensive and complex courses. Transferring them to a digital modality has proven to be quite challenging. Globally, the growth targets that we established at the beginning of the year will be difficult to meet, but we are doing our best to meet them. The necessary contracts and clients are certainly in place, particularly in Mexico. Our outlook for the country and the important role it will continue to play in our portfolio is positive. A 30 percent growth in our workforce by the end of the year is also a possibility. We are confident the industry will recover, despite the dire nature of the sector’s situation.    

RelyOn Nutec (formerly Falck Safety) is an international safety training services provider for the oil and gas, maritime and industrial sectors. The company offers over 200 courses from its Mexican headquarters in Ciudad del Carmen.