A NEW company, Caribbean Subsea Specialist Inc. (CSSI), was on Thursday evening launched to provide services to the local oil-and-gas sector.

The event was held in the Aura Lounge, at the Pegasus Hotel, in Kingston, where it was learnt that the company, which was incorporated in 2017, is a joint-venture partnership between local majority shareholder, the Beharry Group of Companies, and Subsea Specialist out of Trinidad & Tobago.

According to CSSI Operations Director, Dylan Galt, they have been investing quite a lot over the years to get the company up and running, and provide training to Guyanese to operate Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and to offer commercial diving services.

Galt said it cost them around US$75,000 to get their house in order in terms of procuring the relevant equipment, training personnel, transporting trainers, and getting persons prepared to work offshore.

“We want to get the Guyanese people ready to work; we want to build the local skilled labour,” Galt said.

Thus far, some 13 persons have been trained to operate the ROVs to support oil- and-gas operations here. Galt said the company is also working on providing training for commercial divers and more.

Persons have been selected for this training, and the company is in the process of getting that training going in order to have these persons certified to provide commercial diving services in Guyana.

CSSI, Galt said, has partnered with a number of other companies to be able to provide special services to the sector.

He said, “Along with the ROV services and the training of the ROV personnel and the diving services and the training of the divers, they have these other technical roles with our partners that we’re bringing to the table here.”

CSSI’s main goal, Galt said, is to get to a stage where it is 100 per cent Guyanese-run and employed, and to build on, and and pass on the knowledge they would have acquired.