Energy chamber: Loquan, a giant in oil and gas industry

THE Energy Chamber of TT expressed delight in a report on its Energy Now magazine, over Mark Loquan’s award in the Order of the Republic of TT.

The chamber lauded Loquan as a giant in the oil and gas industry.

“Mark’s deep commitment to country and to the development of the energy sector, distinguish him as a deserving recipient of the honour that has been bestowed on him by the Government on behalf of the people of TT,” the article said. “He has had a long and successful career in the industry, working with both multi-national energy and petrochemical companies and more recently leading TT National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC).”

Loquan, for more than 20 years, has been respected as a senior leader in TT’s energy sector. The article said he has made huge contributions to the sector through his professional career at Yara TT Ltd and NGC.

“His leadership of industry initiatives has led to the creation of a strong industry-wide safety culture in TT and to significant new appreciation and commitment to decarbonisation and the creation of a more sustainable energy industry.”

Loquan was president of Yara TT Ltd from 2003-2008. During that time he played a central role in industry-wide safety management initiatives.

Loquan worked with Phoenix Park Gas Processors president Eugene Tiah to develop a basic safety awareness training course and assessment. Every individual worker entering any downstream plant must now successfully complete this course. It is now one of the central systems in the management of safety in Point Lisas and across the downstream energy sector.

“This initiative involved getting over twenty different facilities to all agree on a uniform syllabus and to develop the system by which over twenty thousand individuals would be trained and assessed every two years.

He also played a leading role in getting the entire industry to develop and accept one uniform health and safety pre-qualification requirement, which became the award-winning Safe to Work programme.

He worked in Angola, across the sub-Saharan Africa and then Australia and then returned in 2016 to lead NGC as president.

During his tenure he chaired the Decarbonisation Task Force at the Energy Chamber and became a member of the National Commission on Sustainable Development.

The article quoted Dax Driver CEO of the Energy Chamber who said he worked with Loquan on many occasions including on the industry-wide safety initiative.

“I have always appreciated his ability to see the big picture and work from a position of principle ,” Driver said. “He has a great skill of being able to bring together people even when they had competing initial positions.”

Vice chair of the board of the Energy Chamber Shaun Rampersad lauded his commitment to TT.

“While he was at NGC he was focused on the importance of reducing our carbon footprint and building the energy services sector. He had a real vision for where TT needed to go and he worked hard to make it happen.”