Going after new blood

BHP Billiton is in head-hunting mode. With oil due to come ashore later this year from the Angostura field of Trinidad’s East coast, the Australian-based energy behemoth is  making no bones about wanting to atttract the best people. But they are not head-hunting in the traditional sense; these days the newspapers are awash with advertisements from the company offering career positions to those who meet their demanding global industry standards. “We don’t operate like that,” says Geoffrey Ferreira, the company’s General Manager for BHP’s, in a recent interview, when asked if they were looking to raid the staff of energy companies. From the looks of it, their strategy seems to be paying off.  Every ad they places, the response is tremendous. 

“In one fell swoop BHP Billiton will become the country’s largest producer of crude oil in Trinidad and Tobago,” he says. That, he explains, is what is driving the company’s aggressive recruitment process. He is dismissive of the view that BHP is out to raid staff from other oil companies. Recent employment ads have also been placed by bpTT and British Gas. “There will be no raids,” he said adamantly, adding, “people are free to come if they wish.” People, he said, have opted to join the company based on what they have seen and the way the company conducts its operations.
“We get applications, we put ads, that’s how we do things at this company,” he said. The company currently operates blocks 3 (A) and 2 (C) off Trinidad’a East coast and has begun major development of major oil and gas accumulations recently discoverd in 2 (C).

BHP, he said, plans to have oil come on shore by December this year. Production capability will be around 100, 000 barrels per day (bpd).
It’s the reason why the company has gone into head hunting mode. “We are preparing the organisation to operate and produce first oil,” he said.
The company recently hand-picked young graduates from the Trinidad and Tobago Technology Institute (TTTI) and who were sent for training in the UK and Australia. Before the end of  March and April, BHP would be hiring 36 operators for their offshore operations. Leonard Gomes, Operations and Delivery Manager, said it was all about “creating the capability” in BHP’s local operations. He said BHP was doing what it can to facilitate the entry of local people in the energy sector. It helps when the company puts its money where its mouth is.    Already, the company has spent about US$250,000 on training alone.

For the young men posted to BHP’s operations, it is proving to be quite an experience. “It gave me an insight into how BHP operates globally,” said Reynaldo Dos Santos in a teleconference from BHP office on Victoria Avenue recently. “We were exposed to all aspects of safety and the hazards of working offshore,” he said. Another recruit, Nazeem Mohammed, said he welcomed the opportunity to work for a global company. “The experience is invaluable.” The other two trainees are Riyad Sulaman and Evans Wallace. Both said they saw offshore operations in a new light, having been exposed to the real deal. “I am looking forward to coming back home,” said Wallace, noting that BHP was sparing no effort to ensure their training was up to world standards. 

Before they were sent to their respective locations, each had to be HWET certified (Helicopter, Underwater, Escape Training), a requirement that is mandatory for working offshore. Ferreira said the global exposure was necessary to give the young men  a taste of BHP ‘s offshore environment, the company’s culture, assets and codes and practices. The strategy is to integrate themselves into BHP’s local  operations, said Ferreira. Asked whether the company ran the risk of losing these men when they got back to TT, Ferreira said that was a risk BHP will have to take. “They are free to leave,” he said. Even so, he said retention is going to be the name of the game. That, he said, involved “taking care of our people” and providing the opportunities for career development.

“If we can’t do that, we will lose the battle,” he said. It’s more than just making the money, says Ferreira, noting that one of BHP’s objectives was to transfer skills and capabilities to Trinidad. The company and its joint venture partners, he says, has already spent $726m on the Angostura project. Oil exploration is costing close to $250m. “We would have invested one billion without making one cent,” he said. He said there was still a lot of risk involved. On government’s efforts to fill the void of skilled workers in the energy sector, Ferreira said it should have happened sooner. He acknowledges that the pool of resources in the energy sector in TT is limited.  He welcomes though the setting up of the National Energy Skills Centre and TTTI, which he added, has gone a long way to meet the demands of the oil sector.  Without these two organisations, he said BHP might have had to look outside for their recruits, something that he frowns upon.