Back in business: Energy sector companies network for new opportunities

From mechanical and technical support companies to housing and transport solutions, to innovations in renewables, the trade show at the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference 2022 highlighted a range of businesses that displayed their services and networked with each other.

About 60 companies all connected to the energy sector took booths at the conference – the first physical energy conference since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

With its roots going back to the 1980s, the conference has been considered the most successful and best attended energy sector conference in the Caribbean. In 2020 there were 750 conference delegates and more than 2,000 visitors to the trade show.

Businesses at the conference all took part to expand and develop after having had in one way or another to pivot during the economic downturn as countries battled covid19, and to break new ground as Trinidad and Tobago and the rest of the world transition to cleaner energy.

"This is an excellent opportunity for innovative teams to showcase the work that they have done before an audience of industry leaders," said Dwight Mahabir, Energy Chamber chairman.

While touring the trade show on Tuesday, Minister of Energy Stuart Young said there was potential in each company and the conference was timely given the number of initiatives the country is undertaking.

"I am glad to see that we are finally able to see each other after a couple years. We are really hopeful for a successful energy conference and bringing together the right people to have the right types of conversations. Hopefully those conversations will influence policy in some companies and investment options."

Morrow Energy

Since 1987 Morrow Energy has manufactured, installed, operated and maintained hundreds of gas and processing plants, treating more than 200 million cubic feet per day (MCI/d) for customers.

But for the past 20 years the company has been using its expertise in gas treatment to tackle pollution coming out of landfills.

Areyan Stocks-Gonzales, finance and business development manager in Morrow Energy, said the Texas-based company is now hoping to provide the same services to TT landfills.

“We want to meet the people that may help us get to the next step,” he said.

“Every landfill is different so we want to get out there to see what kind of waste is going into the landfills, how much new trash is going into the landfill. Once you know that you can design the facility around it.”

Stocks-Gonzales said anaerobic bacteria in landfills slowly dissolves trash and turns it into several gases, most of which is methane. These gases pollute the air and, to put it simply, make areas stinky.

The company’s state-of-the-art extraction technology will extract the noxious gases that would have been released into the atmosphere, and separate and treat the methane, resulting in pipeline-worthy content that could be used in many areas in the energy sector.

“There is a three-fold benefit: one, you take this waste product, and you turn it into energy, and three, you lessen the environmental burden on that local area," Stocks-Gonzales said.

He said aside from the conference the company had meetings with stakeholders virtually and hoped to get to meet people face-to-face.

“Wherever there is a landfill, there is an opportunity,” he said.

Miguel Mechanical Services Ltd

Miguel Mechanical Services has been in operation for 40 years providing service in heavy lifting and inspection and certification of machines and tools in the energy sector and beyond. Now through the conference, it intends to reconnect with stakeholders in the industry.

The company has two branches – Miguel Mechanical Services which is a lifting service that provides cranes, crane operators and mechanical technicians for loading and heavy lifting operations.

Ace inspectors is the inspection branch that does onshore and offshore inspections.

“We do offshore drilling rigs, land rigs, non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection on vessels and lifting equipment,” said communications officer Akeitha Duncan.

“We want to re-introduce Miguel Mechanical to everyone. We are trying to revamp and grow our company, and to get the word out there that our people are certified and they know what they are doing and are more than capable of handling anything in the industry.”

Duncan said technicians at Miguel Mechanical Services follow the British Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (Loler) and the Lift and Escalator Industry Association (Leia) standards.

Miguel Mechanical Services is also the regional provider for Reflex Marine’s “The Frog” an emergency transfer vessel.

The Frog is self-righting, buoyant, and is capable of holding six people and a stretcher in the event of an emergency in the water.

Score Valves/Score Group

Score Valves, part of the Score Group has been supplying, maintaining and repairing valves for TT’s oil and gas industry since 2001 and has relationships with BHP, BPTT and Shell TT.

Score Valves also does pressure safety valve certification for Atlantic LNG and non-contract work with companies such as Massy Holdings.

“We have VR certification for our repairs and we are ISO 9000 certified,” said Sarah Ramjattan, deputy contract manager.

“We have access to a global stock and we enjoy benefits of customers who maintain stock with us because we have warehousing facilities so they can share stock in the event of an emergency then replace it.”

Ramjattan said during the pandemic when there were restrictions on energy companies on the number of people allowed on a site, the company slowed down in terms of calls for repairs and maintenance but there was always a need for a new valve.

“There is always an emergency or an urgent need for valves so that part did not slow down.”

Southern Sales

Southern Sales, provider of leased and rental vehicles for 50 years, has been a long-standing feature of the TT Energy Conference. Representatives at the conference said that of its fleet of 1,100 vehicles, about half are used by the energy sector.

“Every year we take part in the conference because a large part of our clientèle is in the energy sector. We also do it for greater networking, because everyone needs transport,” said Brian Mohammed, representative for Southern Sales.

He said the company specialises in ground transportation, not just short-term rentals. Southern Sales does executive transport, shuttle services, airport transit and customised transport solutions.

While joining the conference and trade show is nothing new to the company, it took the opportunity to expand and engage new customers.

“The pandemic hasn’t put a spoke in our wheels. What we did is we sat down and regrouped and shifted our focus a bit based on the economy at the time. Now that things are picking back up in the energy sector we expect that things are only going to get better,” Mohammed said.

The Residences at South Park

Accessing a living space close to where one works is key to productivity, and the people at the Residences at South Park, are now providing that solution with its apartment complex called – The Residences.

“In the year 2000, Amera Caribbean had a vision in terms of development. We purchased the land in South Park and developed it into a community,” said Ava Tang Choon.

“We are now developing the southern end of the park. We will also be building hotels, supermarkets and retail shops in the area.”

The Residences now has 26 apartments available out of 72, which range between $3 million and $3.4 million.

“We can contribute because a lot of the infrastructure for the energy sector is in southern Trinidad. There are also a lot of other service companies in that neighbourhood. We can contribute by giving access to a living space close to where they work.”