FOR THE PAST seven days, oilfield workers who are key to production of oil and natural gas from the Teak, Samaan and Poui (TSP) fields operated by Perenco TT say they have been forced to use their sick leave to protest against poor conditions and even worse salaries.
While the fields are operated by Perenco, the employees are sub-contracted under Sookhai Engineering and Rental Services Ltd (SERSL), owned by a relative of former PNM candidate and minister Richie Sookhai. Newsday understands the contract was awarded in 2018.
In a post on social media, workers highlighted several concerns, including inferior PPE, delays in payments of salaries, severance, victimisation of workers and being forced to work in a high-risk environment without medical or life insurance.
The post said on July 7, about 25 key employees working on the nine platforms in the TSP fields engaged in sickout action to raise awareness of their challenges.
Workers complained that they attempted to meet with management of SERSL to no avail. They said on July 14, they received an email saying contract negotiations are ongoing.
Employees said that while sickout action is being taken, this is the first step as some employees are also considering legal action. Workers said since the sickout operation began, the production from the fields have dipped.
“Maybe now that it is affecting production and not just people, they will give us a listening ear,” one employee said.
Newsday spoke to a man who identified himself as the operations manager Edwin Nancoo at SERSL. He declined to comment on the allegations, saying the negotiations were currently underway involving a third party.
He denied production was affected by the sickout.
“Right now we haven’t lost any production because we have manpower coverage. Other than that, I can’t say much, the negotiation still going on and I don’t want to hamper that negotiation right now.”
Newsday asked about the workers’ claims that they had no life or medical insurance.
Nancoo said, “They have workmen compensation insurance, which a big figure, and they have a contract agreement, which we follow.”
The call cut before any more questions could be posed and subsequent calls were not answered.
Workers: We are at risk every day
On July 14, Newsday spoke to several employees who did not want to be named for fear of being victimised. Newsday was told that the workers engaging in the sickout are production operators, the people who run the day-to-day operations of the oil and gas platforms, to ensure that the rigs produce oil and gas.
The workers explained that owing to crew changes on the different platforms, workers on the Samaan field took sickout action on July 7, on July 8 workers on the Poui platform took sickout action and other workers did the same on the Teak platform on July 9.
One explained that since SERSL was awarded the contract in 2018, the work crew has been under the same contract.
“There have been no improvements, no increases, no medical plan, no usable job letters,” he said. “We have been trying over the years to negotiate with the company to get some kind of betterment. But it continues to fall on deaf ears.
“The communication is lacking between the employers and the employees,” the worker said. “It is basically a take it or leave it type of situation and I think we have just had enough.
“We work in an extremely high-risk environment,” the worker continued.
“For some people working on an oil rig is like working on a ticking time bomb. We continue working on but for a company to not even have the standard of having a medical plan for employees, that is something we take very seriously.
“We are at risk every day. We are dealing with hydrocarbons, we are dealing with acid – it is not only a direct physical risk, it could have an effect on us years from now.”
The workers revealed that they are currently being paid $70 an hour, a salary that, when calculated, amounts to less than $10,000 a month. Workers said that salary had to be raised from $45 an hour. They said even with that pay, they usually have to wait up to nine weeks to get their salaries.
“We have been asked since 2018 to be paid monthly. We have been promised since then that it would be done. But seven years later it has not been done.”
The employee explained that the workers are paid per “hit.” Workers go offshore for 28 days, then come home for another 28 days. However he said after the 28 days home, it still takes another seven days for the workers to be paid.
Another employee complained that severance packages, which, as yearly-contracted workers are supposed to be paid at the end of the contract, also face serious delays.
“For some strange reason at the end of the contract they keep pushing the payments back by four months. If we were paid in December one year, the next year it will be pushed back to March. The next year it gets pushed back to July. Until it reaches the point where you could miss a whole year.”
The workers lauded Perenco for their efforts to make the platforms safe, saying that they have been working on instaling safety measures, given that the assets are relatively old.
Employees called for the assistance of Perenco, or any union, to assist in mediation and negotiation, given that they are not unionised. They also asked for the Energy Ministry to intervene. Newsday tried called and sent messages to Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal but up to press time, he had not responded.
Perenco acquired the Teak, Samaan and Poui fields in 2016, with a focus on modernising operations, increasing gas output and extending the productive life of mature and marginal oil and gas reserves in the field.
The Energy Ministry said Perenco is now considered one of the top three natural gas producers in the country after the completion of its acquisition of the Greater Angostura Producing oil and gas assets and production facilities from Woodside Energy.
OWTU: Non-unionised workers being exploited
Chief education and research officer at the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) was not surprised over the complaints and the industrial action being taken. He said workers who are not with a union are usually exploited.
“They work under very poor health and safety conditions with no proper terms and conditions of work and they are paid way below the surplus value they produce,” he said.
He said the model pushed by the last administration, which involved removing trade unions from the energy sector, has made the jobs on oil and gas more difficult and places workers at greater risk.
“Recent fatalities in the sector proved this to be true,” he said.
On December 22, 2024, Pete Phillip, an offshore worker employed with Well Services Petroleum Ltd went missing after Rig 110 collapsed.
On March 7, 75 days after he went missing, relatives said with the length of time it has taken to recover his body, they may only get bones.
In February 2022, five divers, Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry, Kazim Ali Jr and Christopher Boodram became trapped in an oil pipeline near Pointe-a-Pierre while conducting maintenance work. Boodram was the only survivor.
Warwick said the removal of unions also increased the risk of environmental accidents.
“It has become even more urgent for the sector to become unionised to protect workers’ rights and bring back a level of dignity for these workers,” he said.
“These workers are essentially responsible for the large profits of the multinational oil and gas companies and a large part of the country’s revenue, yet they are treated with utmost disregard, disrespect and disdain by employers.”
He said the approach by multinational companies to sub-contract operations for drilling a labour supply instead of directly hiring workers guarantees large profits for them at the cost of the employees’ livelihoods.
“The current state of working conditions for workers in the offshore sector is reminiscent of the 1930s. Workers only hope is to join a trade union and stand up collectively for their dignity and their rights. It is also important that any impediment to workers joining a trade union of their choice including victimisation be removed.”
