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Gary Frost, MD Rig Bound, speaking at the Local Content Forum 2019

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Origin of Rig Bound Ltd:

Born and Raised in T&T, my family & I migrated to Australia in 1989 and I returned to T&T looking to start my own business in the energy sector but needed to find the right opportunity. My career in the Energy sector began at Trinpet at the age of 17 working on liner hangers, fishing tools and the like. In Australia I worked for Atwood Oceanic’s as a roustabout, then roughneck on a semi sub in the Timor Sea.

On my return to T&T in 2000, I asked the different people I knew in the Industry “what did the industry need? ”, to which I got various answers, but the one that struck me as having good potential was when Bruce Huggins the then HSE Manager for Asco at Galeota Point told that they needed Boxes, and DNV 2.7-1 Certified Boxes at that.

Once I knew that I was going to make something out of this “Boxes” ( Cargo Carrying Unit-CCU’s) business, I approached a family friend of mine, Kelly Mahon, then a Geologist at Bp, to see if she would be interested in partnering with me and she agreed and we were off.

The time line from the business idea to the point where we were operational, was 4 years, which is to say that it was very challenging to get started when you do not have a strong financial position, nor any physical resources, but where there is a will there is a way, and we found our way, in an investor that took a chance on us after liking our business plan.

We started in 2004 by doing a joint venture with a Canadian Company called WCC and the arrangement was to licence Rig Bound to build the CCU’s in T&T. We did that, building our first fleet in Arima Industrial estate of about 20 CCU’s of various types. Today our fleet is past 300 Units and growing.

We are very proud of the fact that Rig Bound is 100 % locally owned and operated and therefore stands out as one of the local companies that can provide International Standards as well as excellent service. The CCU market is dominated by locally represented/foreigner Owned Multinationals, but we still manage to carve out our share of the market and have strategies for expansion locally, regionally and beyond, as we run a leaner meaner operation.

Rig Bound’s success is because of its team, which is small, tight knit, long standing and we take QHSE very seriously and make sure that all staff go home safely every day.

Areas of Growth:

Rig Bound has spread its wings into Guyana and has done a JV with a longstanding reputable company John Fernandes Ltd to form Rig Bound Guyana Inc.

This JV gives John Fernandes Ltd Significant Ownership in Rig Bound Guyana which is in line with one of our core values of maximising local content which helps develop the countries we operate in. Rig Bound Guyana has over 90 CCU’s in its first year and we are getting excellent feedback from our clients who want to support companies that maximise on Local Content. Exxon Mobil Stands out as an Operator that walks the talk on Local Content, to the point that the “attitude of the industry” RE: Local Content, is that it MUST be taken very seriously and needs to be addressed and reported on.

Beside Guyana, Rig Bound CCU’s can be found regionally on any rig working offshore in T&T, Guyana, Suriname, French Guyana and Colombia. The management of Rig Bound are looking for opportunities to partner with Companies within these countries and beyond that share our values of Honesty, Integrity, Community Building and just do the right thing!

Thoughts on Local Content:

Local content (LC) needs to be taken as seriously as QHSE… As far as I can see, local content has only recently started to be taken seriously as the Energy Chamber Board has signed the Local Content Charter and has also put forward the “Local Content Management System” (LCMS), which will deliver 7 out of the 8 objectives of the Charter.

Word of caution/recommendation to local service providers- You cannot expect to get the job just because you are local- you need to bring your company up to spec and ensure that your company meets your clients requirements and be able to compete commercially.

Recommendation to operators and the rest of the supply chain- When you decide to improve your local content output by targeting a service that you currently procure from a foreigner owned entity,  you may identify some capacity or other gaps, and you will need to work with the potential supplier to ensure a win-win. This speaks to the second objective of the Local Content Charter.

In my view, there is much room for improvement on local content/wealth retention throughout the supply chain, by using more local drilling companies, competitive service companies, vessel suppliers, engineering, fabrication, inspection and I dare say CCU’s, to name a few.

We need to start exporting “Brand T&T” regionally and internationally which encompasses a wide range of services that can meet clients’ technical, QHSE standards, while being commercially competitive, but for that to happen we need to improve our wealth retention and value output at home first by building locally owned business’ that can compete globally.