Issue 3, 2010 - BP
Issue 3, 2010 - BP Issue 3, 2010 - BP
Issue 3, 2010
- Page 2 and 3: Editor’s Note BP employees around
- Page 4 and 5: FROM THE CEO Is this a shift from g
- Page 6 and 7: 6 BUSINESS UPDATE BPTT’S NEw BASE
- Page 8 and 9: Representatives of the Trinidad and
- Page 10 and 11: BPTT EMPLOYEES AT THE fRONTLINE in
- Page 12 and 13: BP’s chief economist brings ‘BP
- Page 14 and 15: 14 ‘BRINg YOUR KIdS TO wORK’ dA
- Page 16 and 17: ABOVE: Nigel Charles (left) with Ro
- Page 18 and 19: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Asp
- Page 20 and 21: On 26 July, Natural Treasures Day,
- Page 22 and 23: BPTT jOINS vOLUNTEERS in national
- Page 24: Where there’s POTENTIAL… there
<strong>Issue</strong> 3, <strong>2010</strong>
Editor’s Note<br />
<strong>BP</strong> employees around the world have experienced an interesting and<br />
challenging few months since the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) incident in April.<br />
For some, it was business as usual as staff demonstrated unwavering<br />
commitment to delivering strong business results despite the challenges<br />
being experienced in the US; while others joined the response to<br />
support <strong>BP</strong>’s cleanup and containment efforts. A group of 29 <strong>BP</strong> Trinidad<br />
and Tobago (bpTT) employees, were among those who joined the<br />
response. Twenty-three of the 29 employees who contributed to the<br />
unprecedented response were nationals of Trinidad and Tobago.<br />
I trust that as you read these articles on our support for the GoM<br />
response, you will feel proud that the expertise of Trinidad and Tobago<br />
nationals was sought and called upon by the <strong>BP</strong> group for support in<br />
managing this incident.<br />
In reading this issue, you will learn that interest in the country’s energy<br />
industry is far from waning and by no means limited to politicians and<br />
businessmen, but extends to the children of bpTT staff, and teenagers<br />
from five underprivileged homes who were invited to spend a day at<br />
work with bpTT, learning about our business and career opportunities in<br />
the energy industry.<br />
This interest also extended to our country’s reporters and chambers,<br />
who attended bpTT’s <strong>2010</strong> Energy Media Fundamentals programme<br />
over a five-week period between June and July.<br />
Interest in the role that bpTT plays in Trinidad and Tobago’s energy story<br />
as told through the company’s ‘Where there’s energy, there’s bpTT!’<br />
advertising campaign, rivaled other Caribbean and US companies, taking<br />
home several gold and silver American Advertising Federation ADDY<br />
Awards at the regional and US levels – another signal that interest in the<br />
energy story is alive and well.<br />
While highlighting the strong interest in energy among various groups,<br />
this issue also shares insights into one of the more ‘covert’ operations<br />
at bpTT, introducing you to the faces of bpTT’s security, risk, crisis and<br />
disaster management team who work tirelessly to protect the company<br />
and mitigate security risks.<br />
In reading this third issue of <strong>2010</strong>, I continue to be impressed and<br />
humbled by the passion and dedication of my colleagues who in the face<br />
of challenges, maintain their drive and focus on the opportunities ahead.<br />
This issue’s lead story on our base management team, is one such<br />
group that is focused on positioning the company to meet its demands<br />
today and into the future.<br />
As always we welcome your feedback and suggestions for future<br />
editions. You can reach us at bpttempcomm@bp.com.<br />
2<br />
<strong>Issue</strong> 3, <strong>2010</strong><br />
Cover:<br />
Members of bpTT’s base management<br />
team: from left, Terence Ramnarine,<br />
Kathy Baillie and Annessa Ramdial<br />
Photo courtesy Marlon Rouse<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT’s Production Team:<br />
Editor, Danielle Bailey<br />
Production Manager, Melissa Young<br />
Editorial Consultant, Frank Arlen<br />
Production Assistant,<br />
Janelle Pascall<br />
Editorial & production:<br />
Mirissa De Four<br />
Media & Editorial Projects (MEP) Ltd<br />
Design & layout:<br />
Ariann Thompson<br />
Aisha Provoteaux<br />
Media & Editorial Projects (MEP) Ltd<br />
Prepress & printing:<br />
Caribbean Paper & Printed Products<br />
(1993) Ltd<br />
© <strong>BP</strong> Trinidad and Tobago, <strong>2010</strong><br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT Insider magazine is a publication<br />
of the Communications Team,<br />
Communications and External<br />
Affairs, <strong>BP</strong> Trinidad and Tobago. For<br />
more information please contact the<br />
Communications Manager, Danielle<br />
Bailey, at (868) 623-2862.<br />
NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION<br />
MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT<br />
THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE<br />
PUBLISHER OR AGENT.
4 From the CEO<br />
BUSINESS<br />
6 <strong>BP</strong>TT’s new base<br />
management team boosts<br />
gas production<br />
8 Chambers join business<br />
journalists in media energy<br />
training<br />
9 Where there’s energy, there’s<br />
bpTT!<br />
10 <strong>BP</strong>TT employees at the<br />
frontline in the Gulf of Mexico<br />
11 <strong>BP</strong>TT engineer awarded US<br />
Coast Guard merit token<br />
12 <strong>BP</strong>’s chief economist brings<br />
‘<strong>BP</strong>’s Statistical Review of<br />
World Energy’ to Trinidad<br />
and Tobago<br />
13 Seven local teams achieve<br />
commended status in Helios<br />
awards<br />
14 ‘Bring Your Kids to Work’ day;<br />
Finance career fair; ‘Race 4<br />
Your Cause’<br />
PEOPLE<br />
16 <strong>BP</strong>TT’s security team at<br />
the forefront of corporate<br />
security, risk, crisis and<br />
disaster management<br />
CORPORATE SOCIAL<br />
RESPONSIBILITY<br />
18 <strong>BP</strong>TT invests in the future of<br />
youth and steelpan<br />
19 <strong>BP</strong>TT and Renegades renew<br />
partnership<br />
20 ‘Tracing Footprints’ of<br />
Charlotteville’s history<br />
Contents<br />
<strong>Issue</strong> 3, <strong>2010</strong><br />
COMMUNITY<br />
21 Mayaro takes environmental<br />
awareness to a new level<br />
22 <strong>BP</strong>TT joins volunteers in<br />
government’s ‘clean and<br />
beautify’ effort<br />
15<br />
23 <strong>BP</strong>TT-sponsored night cricket<br />
completes 10 successful years<br />
3<br />
16
FROM<br />
THE CEO<br />
Is this a shift from<br />
gladiator-style<br />
politics to humane<br />
governance?<br />
Some time has elapsed since Trinidad and Tobago elected<br />
its first woman prime minister in May this year, but this<br />
is my first opportunity to express some thoughts publicly<br />
about that historic election and the phenomenal outcome.<br />
Let me be very clear from the outset: my comments<br />
in this column have nothing to do with party politics or<br />
with the merits of the United National Congress over<br />
the People’s National Movement or the performance,<br />
non-performance or governance by the elements that<br />
constitute the People’s Partnership. I am not concerned<br />
in this column with the value or merits of any one<br />
political party over the other.<br />
The truth is, if our new prime minister were Penelope<br />
Beckles or Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, for example,<br />
I would have been similarly impressed by the<br />
achievement and therefore driven to examine the<br />
phenomenon from a non-partisan gender perspective.<br />
I have what you may describe as an overwhelming<br />
interest in the rapid ascendancy of women in Trinidad<br />
and Tobago’s landscape. We have just voted our first<br />
female prime minister into office a ‘mere’ 64 years<br />
after women first won the right to vote in national<br />
elections in this country and some 60 years after they<br />
4<br />
also earned the right to contest as candidates in national<br />
or local government elections. I say ‘mere’, but the truth<br />
of it is that on the basis of merit and pure performance<br />
it is surprising this did not happen earlier.<br />
Perhaps my interest in this subject is sparked by the<br />
fact that I am the father of two daughters – two young<br />
women who are at that precarious stage of life when<br />
they may soon be leaving the comfort and assurance of<br />
their parents’ home to make their own way in the world.<br />
I am concerned in this column, however, with the role<br />
of women in the creation and growth of a new Trinidad<br />
and Tobago society through their participation not just in<br />
politics, but in the complete economic and social life of<br />
this country.<br />
But I may be getting a little ahead of myself here. Before<br />
I proceed with an essentially fleeting analysis of what this<br />
triumph may mean for the future of this country, allow<br />
me firstly to congratulate our new prime minister on her<br />
tremendous historic achievement. I see it as a critical<br />
development on the chessboard of Caribbean politics and<br />
the fulfilment of an inevitable role for women in terms<br />
of leadership in the Caribbean. I must at the same time<br />
congratulate the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the<br />
electorate, that is, on what appears to me to be a newfound<br />
political maturity in its decision to elect a woman<br />
as our prime minister.<br />
Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s successful invasion of a<br />
province that hitherto was exclusively a masculine<br />
preserve at this critical juncture in our development, is<br />
remarkable, more so when you consider the enduring<br />
male political icons she had to displace and the other,<br />
less developed political icons she had to manage on her<br />
way to prime ministership.<br />
We have certainly reached a new threshold in Trinidad<br />
and Tobago and I am not sure the population has yet<br />
realized how deeply significant the change is. And such<br />
changes have not just been occurring in politics. Even<br />
in the petroleum business of which I am a part, and<br />
which was previously dominated by men, the industry is<br />
gradually making way for more and more women in every<br />
field, from commercial to technical. We have a lot more<br />
young females in our business. They seem to be our best<br />
commercial people. But it does not stop there. There is<br />
already a growing, welcome and considerable presence<br />
of women in the geosciences, technical and engineering<br />
fields in our business.<br />
The truth is, we have for too long underestimated the<br />
role of women in society. To better understand the<br />
increasing importance of women in politics, business,<br />
industry and the public service, I consulted the work of<br />
a few leading Caribbean scholars in the fields of gender<br />
studies and social behaviour.<br />
One of the fundamental discoveries I grasped from<br />
their research is that even though we continue to be<br />
a highly matriarchal society, men have consistently
underestimated women and<br />
trivialized their contribution to the<br />
development of society, particularly<br />
in leadership roles.<br />
Some of the research demonstrated<br />
that the way we prepare young<br />
people at home for life may<br />
have something to do with the<br />
ascendancy of women in this<br />
modern society. The roles of young<br />
men have been severely diminished<br />
from what was traditional and the<br />
roles of women have remained<br />
the same, and, in some instances,<br />
have been enriched. Women have<br />
continued to grow up with the<br />
expectation that they must play a<br />
very active role in the household.<br />
They still do today. Whereas, as we<br />
become more urbanized, boys are<br />
no longer required to go and fetch<br />
the water, they no longer have to<br />
go to the shop, they no longer have<br />
to go to tie the goat or the bull, and<br />
so young men are growing up doing<br />
absolutely nothing in the household<br />
by and large. On the other hand we<br />
still have women who are coming<br />
on to the job market knowing how<br />
to multitask because it was part of<br />
their developmental process. They<br />
have been able to successfully add<br />
education to their list of daily chores.<br />
Nothing has been subtracted and so<br />
they come out far better, far more<br />
work-worthy, far more useful, and<br />
today they are performing the role of<br />
taking care of their men and so there<br />
is this reversal of roles.<br />
Should we therefore really be<br />
surprised by women’s increasing<br />
success in the workplace and in<br />
politics?<br />
In recent Caribbean history women<br />
have progressed rapidly through<br />
education. This has now opened up<br />
a new world for them. Some of the<br />
barriers that used to exist against<br />
their progress in the corporate world<br />
and in politics have been removed.<br />
It was just inevitable that a woman<br />
would break through to the highest<br />
political office in the country.<br />
Another point is that for a number<br />
of reasons men have tended to<br />
underestimate women in leadership<br />
roles across the country. I think that<br />
it comes from a misunderstanding<br />
of the emerging capability, which<br />
has a huge historical basis in the<br />
Caribbean. As I said earlier, we<br />
are a matriarchal society. Women<br />
have basically organized and run<br />
our homes, and through formal<br />
education they have extended<br />
their reach and are now taking new<br />
stages. I think that this is a process<br />
which is likely to deepen and extend.<br />
Judging from some public reaction<br />
I have been hearing, and several<br />
‘congratulatory’ letters written<br />
in the press, a lot of men have<br />
given full credit to the male<br />
gladiatorial elements of the People’s<br />
Partnership for Persad-Bissessar’s<br />
political success. I challenge that.<br />
I don’t see it that way. Persad-<br />
Bissessar was the architect of her<br />
own political success.<br />
So when I hear people saying they<br />
wonder how the prime minister<br />
will cope with those men, I see<br />
absolutely no problem. It is a matter<br />
of style. She has not adopted<br />
that male-oriented winner-take-all<br />
mentality of the old politics. She<br />
has taken the opportunity, in a<br />
highly polarized society, not to go<br />
at those things which divide but to<br />
go at those things which unite and<br />
to bring a humane, personal, and<br />
truly feminine touch to governance.<br />
I think her style is unique. In other<br />
words her first move is not to fight.<br />
Her first salvo is that she is willing<br />
to offer the olive branch and to offer<br />
opportunities for reconciliation.<br />
You continue to hear comments<br />
in the corridors that seem to say<br />
the men around her are really<br />
the leaders and not the woman.<br />
Some of those comments are<br />
still being made now, but I think<br />
it is as a result of a genuine<br />
misunderstanding of the way<br />
in which women generally are<br />
predisposed to leading.<br />
People are reading her actions<br />
as pure public relations in the<br />
political arena simply because<br />
they contrast with what we have<br />
been accustomed to. It is not that.<br />
It is innate feminine behaviour<br />
and this should not be misread as<br />
weakness. We ought to be very<br />
careful about that.<br />
I happen to think that this is a very<br />
important step in the right direction<br />
for leadership in the Caribbean.<br />
The truth is, I believe that female<br />
leadership will be part of political<br />
life in the Caribbean for a very long<br />
time. I think that the emergence of<br />
women, not only in everyday life<br />
but now in the highest offices of<br />
leadership in the land, offers a great<br />
opportunity for the future of the<br />
Caribbean.<br />
It now remains to be seen how<br />
men will actually adjust and work<br />
with a female leader. I think it will<br />
be challenging, but if we can make<br />
it work, we will be adding a vital<br />
resource that has taken too long to<br />
be added to the quiver of leadership<br />
capability in the country.<br />
The conclusions in this article<br />
are my own but I would like to<br />
acknowledge references to the<br />
following work in the course of<br />
preparing this article:<br />
Rhoda Reddock: (1) Reflections<br />
on Gender and Democracy in the<br />
Anglophone Caribbean: Historical<br />
and Contemporary Considerations;<br />
(2) Interrogating Caribbean<br />
Masculinities.<br />
Mark Figueroa: Male<br />
Privileging and Male “Academic<br />
Underperformance” in Jamaica.<br />
Linda Claudia de Four &<br />
Gwendoline Williams: Gender<br />
and Management Cases from the<br />
Caribbean.<br />
Ofelia Gomez de Estrada &<br />
Rhoda Reddock: New Trends in the<br />
Internationalisation of Production:<br />
Implications for Female Workers.<br />
5
6<br />
BUSINESS<br />
UPDATE<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT’S NEw BASE MANAgEMENT TEAM<br />
boosts gas production<br />
ABOVE: <strong>BP</strong>TT’s new base<br />
management team<br />
<strong>BP</strong> Trinidad and Tobago<br />
(bpTT) has created a new<br />
special purpose team to<br />
ensure that the company<br />
will meet all its gas<br />
delivery commitments – both for the<br />
short term and long term.<br />
The new team, designated as a<br />
‘base management team’, has<br />
been installed within the company’s<br />
resource function. This squad has<br />
already made an impact on improving<br />
the company’s gas production profile<br />
and promises even greater dividends<br />
in the very near future.<br />
The resource function, which is also<br />
a new entity on bpTT’s organization<br />
chart, was created out of what was<br />
formerly the renewal unit, prior<br />
to which it was the exploration<br />
department. The new resource team<br />
however, has an expanded reach that<br />
now includes reservoir management,<br />
the delivery of new wells,<br />
exploration, information technology<br />
and services.<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT has a production target of<br />
approximately 450,000 barrels of oil<br />
equivalent a day (boed). The fact that<br />
a number of bpTT’s current wells are<br />
shut-in presents an opportunity to<br />
understand why the wells are shutin<br />
and the production and reserve<br />
potential that remains in each of<br />
those wells. This can manifest itself in<br />
a huge prize of very efficient work that<br />
adds to the bpTT goal of sustaining its
target production over the long term.<br />
The work that will be done by this<br />
team and the processes set up will<br />
bode well for a sustainable business<br />
and the increasing importance of base<br />
management cannot be understated<br />
as they find ways to incrementally add<br />
production and deplete the resources<br />
in each well as efficiently as possible.<br />
The team brings together a<br />
range of skills, including reservoir<br />
engineering, petroleum engineering<br />
and production management.<br />
Before the team was created,<br />
the disciplines were managed by<br />
different areas of the business.<br />
As base management now sits in<br />
resource, the diverse strengths of<br />
the individuals give the team the<br />
holistic approach that is needed<br />
to effectively manage bpTT’s<br />
hydrocarbon resources in the<br />
Columbus Basin.<br />
“It’s about understanding the<br />
story of the reservoir based on the<br />
evidence we have,” says reservoir<br />
engineer Iannie Roopa. Roopa and<br />
fellow reservoir engineer Kathy<br />
Baillie help the team by providing<br />
a link between geoscience and<br />
petroleum engineering. “We act<br />
as the link between geoscience,<br />
which isn’t exactly part of base<br />
management, and the petroleum<br />
engineering side. It’s the link<br />
between the subsurface and<br />
the surface,” Baillie explains.<br />
“Base management acts as a<br />
connector working with several<br />
other functional teams to deliver<br />
production by managing the existing<br />
wells, the base and identifying<br />
new opportunities in existing wells<br />
through wellwork.”<br />
The team members’ different skills<br />
lead to an integrated view on how<br />
best to manage bpTT’s resource base.<br />
For petroleum engineer Wade<br />
Whittier, the focus is on<br />
understanding the opportunities to<br />
add to production from the existing<br />
well stock. “It is important that<br />
petroleum engineers understand<br />
the well stock, that you understand<br />
the potential and deliverability of<br />
the wells in order to meet whatever<br />
targets we have,” he states.<br />
For Nalini Mahabirsingh, production<br />
optimization lead, the focus is on<br />
understanding the production data<br />
to be able to provide forecasts<br />
and ensure the business fulfils<br />
its production targets. The base<br />
management team provides short-<br />
and medium-term forecasts and<br />
works with external partners to<br />
take advantage of opportunities<br />
for increased sales. “It’s<br />
about identifying the risks and<br />
opportunities in meeting demand.<br />
That’s where the integration with<br />
the base management team adds<br />
value,” she says. Mahabirsingh<br />
depends on the data provided by<br />
reservoir engineers like Baillie and<br />
Roopa to create forecasts.<br />
For the long-term outlook, the<br />
team has recently moved to a<br />
new software programme called<br />
Wellspring and is leading <strong>BP</strong> in<br />
implementing this tool to allow<br />
for improved scenario planning.<br />
This is all part of the base<br />
management effort to look ahead<br />
and create the opportunities for the<br />
business to build and sustain its<br />
production profile.<br />
The base management team<br />
is charged with carrying out<br />
surveillance on existing wells and<br />
identifying ways to bring nonperforming<br />
wells back online. The<br />
team identifies opportunities that<br />
do not always involve rig work. One<br />
of the tools now being used is a<br />
production hopper to bring all such<br />
opportunities together to understand<br />
the bigger picture in terms of gas<br />
deliverability. The hopper will allow<br />
the business to adapt quickly to<br />
changes. According to petroleum<br />
engineer Varoon Samlal: “To get to<br />
that point requires building the story<br />
and this is what we aim to do.”<br />
Whether it is forecasting or ensuring<br />
deliverability, the team unanimously<br />
agrees that the new approach<br />
will have a positive impact on<br />
the business. Over the past few<br />
years the business has focused on<br />
bringing on new fields. “In an effort<br />
to improve efficiency in how we<br />
produce the resources we need, we<br />
now focus on existing well stock and<br />
look for opportunities there,” explains<br />
Whittier. The team has a target to<br />
bring 19 shut-in wells back into<br />
production this year.<br />
For producing wells, those<br />
opportunities include reducing the<br />
pressure or lifting water out to<br />
extend the life of the well. <strong>BP</strong>TT’s<br />
Mahogany team is using <strong>BP</strong>’s<br />
experience in the North Sea to solve<br />
the problem, using detergent to<br />
generate foam and help lift out the<br />
excess water. A trial is planned for<br />
the latter part of the year on three<br />
wells and could deliver 30,000<br />
standard cubic feet a day (scfd).<br />
“All of these things are little<br />
additions,” says Roopa. “They add<br />
5,000 scfd or 10,000 scfd, all these<br />
things that you can barely even<br />
measure on their own, but when<br />
you add them up they can make a<br />
difference. If you take 10 wells you<br />
can add 50,000 scfd. That might<br />
cost US$1.5 million to US$2 million,<br />
versus approximately US$50 million<br />
for a new well.”<br />
So overall, it adds up, and the<br />
base management team is off to a<br />
good start with their task of managing<br />
and maximizing bpTT’s resource base<br />
to ensure that the business continues<br />
to meet the production demands of<br />
the company and the country.<br />
7
Representatives of the<br />
Trinidad and Tobago<br />
Chamber of Industry<br />
and Commerce and the<br />
American Chamber of<br />
Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago<br />
joined business journalists for<br />
the first time this year in the <strong>BP</strong><br />
Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT) and the<br />
University of Trinidad and Tobago’s<br />
(UTT) media energy training<br />
programme.<br />
The ‘Energy Media Fundamentals’<br />
programme, which catered for 12<br />
people, comprised four modules<br />
and was held in June and July. The<br />
modules included basic geology,<br />
reserves to production planning, the<br />
natural gas value chain and current<br />
and emerging issues affecting the<br />
local industry.<br />
This year’s programme catered<br />
for first-time participants and also<br />
served as a refresher for some<br />
journalists.<br />
8<br />
Chambers join business journalists in<br />
MEdIA ENERgY TRAININg<br />
Over 30 journalists have benefited<br />
from the programme since it was<br />
initiated in 2006. Commenting<br />
on this year’s training, assistant<br />
vice-president, UTT, Zameer<br />
Mohammed, said that on the basis<br />
of feedback from participants and<br />
media managers, both the content<br />
and structure have been continually<br />
amended each year to keep pace<br />
with developments in the local<br />
energy sector and journalists’ needs.<br />
He pointed out that the module on<br />
reserves to production, for example,<br />
was added to enable participants<br />
to understand the issues that<br />
accompany the results of the Ryder<br />
Scott natural gas audit.<br />
Giselle Thompson, bpTT’s vicepresident,<br />
communications and<br />
external affairs, hinted in her<br />
remarks at the formal opening of<br />
the training programme that there<br />
would be changes in the format for<br />
future programmes. She stated:<br />
“The bpTT/UTT energy training<br />
programme has done a great deal<br />
to deliver the basics. Our next step<br />
would be to develop the discussion<br />
on issues like reserves to production<br />
and the national fiscal regime.”<br />
For journalist Raphael John Lall, the<br />
programme was valuable because it<br />
gave a good overview of the sector<br />
within a short space of time. Lall had<br />
previously attended the programme.<br />
“It was very concise. There was a<br />
lot of information encapsulated into a<br />
five-week period and that was good.<br />
The programme touched on all the<br />
main points and connected all the<br />
dots,” he said.<br />
ABOVE: Participants in the media energy<br />
training programme
ABOVE: Danielle Bailey, corporate communications manager, bpTT (centre) with members of the McCann Erickson team<br />
wHERE THERE’S ENERgY,<br />
THERE’S <strong>BP</strong>TT!<br />
It was in November 2009 that bpTT and its then newly-appointed<br />
advertising agency, McCann Erickson launched a new corporate<br />
advertising campaign for bpTT. The tagline? ‘Where there’s energy,<br />
there’s bpTT!’ This new and fresh campaign saw TV, radio and press<br />
advertisements with a distinct and authentic flavour of local culture. And<br />
since then, the campaign has been deemed a success on many fronts.<br />
It was able to deepen the company’s connection with the public, sharing<br />
information about bpTT’s long-term commitment to the nation and the positive<br />
impact of its many corporate responsibility programmes. The campaign also<br />
deepened employee pride and was well received internally. What made the<br />
campaign even more distinctive is that it was able to visibly share bpTT’s story,<br />
all with a limited advertising budget for the 2009-<strong>2010</strong> period.<br />
In March more good news came. The campaign gained international<br />
acclaim, copping both gold and silver at the American Advertising<br />
Federation’s ADDY awards. Despite keen competition from scores of<br />
campaigns across the Caribbean and North America, bpTT’s campaign<br />
received seven awards (see box).<br />
Gold<br />
Corporate television commercial<br />
Corporate overall campaign<br />
Corporate jingle (for sound)<br />
Corporate jingle (for music with lyrics)<br />
Poster (for end-of-year function)<br />
Silver<br />
Independence Day advertisement<br />
End-of-year function announcement of<br />
their achievements<br />
9
<strong>BP</strong>TT EMPLOYEES AT THE fRONTLINE<br />
in the Gulf of Mexico<br />
For many citizens of Trinidad<br />
and Tobago, the oil spill in the<br />
Gulf of Mexico (GoM) may<br />
seem far away. But the GoM<br />
incident has been of rather close<br />
concern to all bpTT employees<br />
since the fatal explosion that took<br />
place in April.<br />
It was even more so for a select<br />
group of 29 bpTT employees who<br />
were called out to be part of the<br />
frontline response to the crisis<br />
in the Gulf. Very early in May, it<br />
became evident to the <strong>BP</strong> group<br />
that the response would require<br />
contributions from <strong>BP</strong> businesses<br />
worldwide and calls were made to<br />
bpTT for personnel to support the<br />
clean-up and containment efforts.<br />
One of the first nationals to be<br />
assigned to the Gulf was Reginald<br />
Williams, bpTT’s marine authority,<br />
who provided marine and logistics<br />
support to the Spill Response<br />
Centre in Houma, Louisiana, the<br />
Crisis Centre in Houston and the<br />
10<br />
Unified Incident Command Centre<br />
in Alabama. Joining Williams in the<br />
US soon after was Tyrone Kalpee,<br />
bpTT’s vice-president, HSSE and<br />
engineering. Kalpee was initially<br />
based in Houston and assisted<br />
with the group-led health, safety<br />
and environment (HSE) technical<br />
co-ordination team and worked<br />
with the unified area command<br />
managing long-term HSE risks for<br />
the business.<br />
Kalpee told the Insider how proud<br />
he was of staff members who<br />
contributed to the response: “The<br />
work of the bpTT staff who served<br />
and continue to serve with <strong>BP</strong>’s<br />
response has made us all proud.<br />
The Trinidad business’s support<br />
has been much appreciated by<br />
our colleagues in the wider <strong>BP</strong><br />
group. The emergency assumed an<br />
unprecedented scale. Being a part<br />
of this has been a unique learning<br />
experience for those directly<br />
involved. It is also important to note<br />
that the Trinidad business was not<br />
Listed in alphabetical order are bpTT personnel who<br />
were involved in <strong>BP</strong>’s clean-up and containment effort<br />
in the Gulf of Mexico:<br />
Allan Subero<br />
Andrew Briggs<br />
Anthony Mathura<br />
Bernadette Coney<br />
Chan Boodhai<br />
Chantal Lalla-Maharaj<br />
Dave Christensen<br />
Deenesh Persad<br />
Greg Evernden<br />
Heath Romeo<br />
Imran Mohammed<br />
Jose Gonzalez<br />
Karen Ragoonanan-Jalim<br />
Lester Carrington<br />
Mike Pritchett<br />
Navin Ragoo<br />
Oniika Davis-Peters<br />
Patricia King<br />
Rachel Mungroo-Ramsamooj<br />
Rajesh Kandhai<br />
Reginald Williams<br />
Renny Jaikissoon<br />
Roddy Ramdhan<br />
Rodney Charles<br />
Roy Yongo<br />
Ryan Colthrust<br />
Steve Chabelal<br />
Stuart Rettie<br />
Tyrone Kalpee<br />
negatively impacted by the absent<br />
staff and that sufficient plans were<br />
put in place to ensure that our<br />
business here was not exposed to<br />
unsatisfactory levels of risk.”<br />
As days turned into weeks, and the<br />
weeks turned into months, more<br />
bpTT personnel were called out on<br />
two-week rotations, to assist teams<br />
working in Alabama, Louisiana and<br />
the incident management team and<br />
HSE technical co-ordination team<br />
in Houston.<br />
All bpTT employees who supported<br />
the response are trained incident<br />
management responders who<br />
were able to share their experience<br />
with the GoM response teams. In<br />
the US, they worked in the areas<br />
of environment, safety, industrial<br />
hygiene, operations, logistics<br />
planning, engineering and marine<br />
operations.
<strong>BP</strong>TT ENgINEER AwARdEd<br />
US Coast Guard merit token<br />
ABOVE: Renny Jaikissoon at the incident command centre in Mobile, Alabama<br />
It was in June that Renny Jaikissoon,<br />
integrity assurance lead in bpTT’s<br />
health, safety, security, environment<br />
and engineering organization, was<br />
presented with a US Coast Guard<br />
merit token for excellence. Jaikissoon<br />
received this award while assisting<br />
with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill<br />
response efforts for his outstanding<br />
performance as operations section<br />
chief (nights) at the incident<br />
command centre in Mobile, Alabama.<br />
The token, a medal, was presented<br />
by Lieutenant-Commander Martin<br />
L Smith, US Coast Guard planning<br />
section chief, on behalf of the US<br />
Coast Guard Incident Commander.<br />
During the presentation, Jaikissoon<br />
was commended for his work in<br />
leading the night operations team<br />
and for his involvement in building<br />
new processes that helped deliver<br />
consistent, accurate and timely<br />
operational data and reports to the<br />
Unified Area Command via the<br />
Coast Guard.<br />
Jaikissoon’s efforts resulted in<br />
improved efficiencies with data<br />
management and data reporting<br />
and fostered an improved working<br />
relationship with the US Coast Guard.<br />
Congratulations, Renny!<br />
11
<strong>BP</strong>’s chief economist brings<br />
‘<strong>BP</strong>’S STATISTICAL REvIEw Of wORLd<br />
ENERgY’ TO TRINIdAd ANd TOBAgO<br />
<strong>BP</strong> group vice-president and<br />
chief economist Christof<br />
Ruehl told several audiences<br />
in Trinidad and Tobago in<br />
July that <strong>BP</strong>’s acceptance of<br />
responsibility for the oil spill disaster in<br />
the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is an action<br />
that will be rewarded in the long term.<br />
Ruehl, who was in Trinidad to present<br />
details of the <strong>BP</strong> Statistical Review<br />
of World Energy <strong>2010</strong>, made this<br />
comment to various audiences as a<br />
prelude to his presentation.<br />
Speaking about the financial<br />
commitment the company made he<br />
said: “This is something many smaller<br />
companies could not have done<br />
because they would not have had the<br />
financial muscle to do so. Some of<br />
the larger companies may not have<br />
adopted such an approach, but we did<br />
because we thought it was the right<br />
thing to do.”<br />
Ruehl visited Trinidad for three<br />
days in July as the guest of bpTT<br />
to broadly discuss the implications<br />
of the Statistical Review with key<br />
local audiences, which included<br />
government ministers, senior civil<br />
servants, leaders in the business<br />
community, industry chambers and<br />
members of the national news media.<br />
He provided valuable insights into<br />
issues such as energy security, energy<br />
trade and alternative energy, the global<br />
economic environment and its impact<br />
on energy supply and demand.<br />
His visit was well received by those<br />
attending meetings with him and<br />
they also took the opportunity to ask<br />
questions about bpTT’s operations<br />
in Trinidad and Tobago in a global<br />
context.<br />
12<br />
The Statistical Review is one of<br />
the most widely respected and<br />
authoritative publications in the field<br />
of energy economics, referenced<br />
by the media, academia, world<br />
governments and other energy<br />
companies.<br />
According to the report, global<br />
consumption of oil, natural gas<br />
and nuclear power declined, while<br />
coal consumption was essentially<br />
flat; only hydroelectric output and<br />
other renewable forms of energy<br />
increased in 2009. The data on<br />
energy consumption suggests that<br />
global carbon dioxide emissions<br />
from energy use fell for the first time<br />
since 1998.<br />
Ruehl said: “Energy consumption<br />
reflected the pattern of recession<br />
and recovery. For the world as a<br />
whole, primary energy consumption<br />
fell by 1.1% in 2009, the first decline<br />
since 1982. Consumption in the<br />
industrialized countries of the OECD<br />
fell by 5% – more than their decline<br />
in GDP; those countries consumed<br />
less energy last year than 10 years<br />
ago. Energy consumption outside<br />
the OECD increased by 2.7% – more<br />
than the increase in GDP – and<br />
was driven by growth in China. The<br />
shift toward the developing world<br />
continues.”<br />
For more information, <strong>BP</strong> Statistical<br />
Review of World Energy <strong>2010</strong> is<br />
available online at www.bp.com/<br />
statisticalreview. The website<br />
contains all the tables and charts<br />
found in the latest printed edition,<br />
plus a number of extras, such as<br />
historical data from 1965 for many<br />
sections and additional data for<br />
natural gas, coal, hydroelectricity,<br />
nuclear energy, electricity and<br />
renewables.<br />
ABOVE: Christof Ruehl, <strong>BP</strong> group vice-president<br />
and chief economist
SEvEN LOCAL TEAMS ACHIEvE<br />
commended status in Helios awards<br />
Seven of bpTT’s 29 submissions were awarded commended status in the <strong>BP</strong> group’s<br />
global performance recognition programme, the Helios awards, according to a group<br />
announcement in July.<br />
The awards, which celebrate ‘<strong>BP</strong> at its best’, uncover and share hundreds of stories<br />
about <strong>BP</strong> people achieving outstanding success in a number of areas across the business. The<br />
awards recognize individuals and teams who are bringing <strong>BP</strong>’s values to life in four principal<br />
performance categories: progressive, responsible, innovative and performance-driven.<br />
The following are synopses of the seven commended Helios submissions from Trinidad in their<br />
categories:<br />
Performance-driven<br />
‘Mahogany <strong>2010</strong> – Low-hanging<br />
Fruit Never Tasted This Good’<br />
This project is an optimized access<br />
plan that has allowed the recovery of<br />
further hydrocarbon resources in the<br />
Mahogany field.<br />
‘Cost Management – How Trinidad<br />
is in action!’<br />
Through a number of initiatives,<br />
bpTT’s strategic value committee<br />
was able to develop an engaging<br />
and empowering campaign that<br />
encouraged staff at all levels to<br />
find ways to improve bpTT’s cost<br />
efficiency. The results of this work<br />
continue to be seen across the<br />
business and shared with other<br />
companies across <strong>BP</strong>.<br />
‘A P.I.G. to resolve problems’<br />
This project sought to reduce<br />
unplanned downtime and has seen<br />
a 100% decrease in bpTT’s plant<br />
shutdowns as a result.<br />
‘150,000 to 230,000 standard cubic<br />
feet a day. Pushing the small bore<br />
completion envelope’<br />
The objective of this project was to<br />
increase production on one of bpTT’s<br />
platforms, the Savonette. The team<br />
worked together to find solutions<br />
and overcome challenges and this<br />
contributed to bpTT’s highest gas<br />
sales ever.<br />
Responsible<br />
‘Getting closer to zero and helping<br />
to change T&T’<br />
This entry described bpTT’s safety<br />
performance, which has improved<br />
since 2008. The workforce has<br />
become more actively engaged in<br />
meeting leadership expectations<br />
and improving the quality of safety<br />
reporting.<br />
‘Crisis Management/Emergency<br />
Response – Building a home away<br />
from home’<br />
This entry details how bpTT’s crisis<br />
management and emergency<br />
response team worked to<br />
improve the company’s ability<br />
to appropriately and effectively<br />
respond to emergencies. It<br />
describes the company’s first ever<br />
full-scale exercise, ‘Operation<br />
Seahawk’, which tested bpTT’s<br />
crisis management and emergency<br />
response through a helicopter crash<br />
simulation.<br />
Progressive<br />
‘Where there’s energy...there’s<br />
bpTT!’<br />
This entry shares bpTT’s<br />
development of a new corporate<br />
advertising campaign in 2009<br />
which has received both local and<br />
international recognition. With<br />
a limited 2009-<strong>2010</strong> advertising<br />
budget, the campaign effectively<br />
shared highlights of bpTT’s business,<br />
corporate responsibility programmes<br />
and contribution to Trinidad and<br />
Tobago’s development.<br />
13
14<br />
‘BRINg<br />
YOUR KIdS<br />
TO wORK’<br />
dAY<br />
Over 90 children visited<br />
bpTT’s head office,<br />
Queen’s Park Plaza, as<br />
part of a ‘Bring Your Kids<br />
to Work’ initiative in<br />
August.<br />
Children of employees<br />
and from five<br />
underprivileged homes<br />
were invited on two<br />
separate days to share<br />
in a full agenda that<br />
included a 3D movie<br />
entitled ‘Columbus Basin<br />
Fly Through’, video<br />
conferencing to bpTT’s<br />
Mahogany B platform and<br />
a mini career fair.
‘RACE 4<br />
YOUR CAUSE’<br />
fINANCE CAREER fAIR<br />
All staff of bpTT’s ‘wider’ finance community, which<br />
includes procurement and supply chain management<br />
(PSCM), tax, treasury and facilities, management<br />
and services, hosted a career fair in June with a<br />
focus on training and professional development. The<br />
event featured booths for each discipline with the<br />
objective of linking jobs to competencies and training.<br />
Finance staff who attended the fair left with a deeper<br />
understanding of the jobs they can aspire to in finance,<br />
the competencies that are required for each position,<br />
and the available training to build those competencies.<br />
The fair was highly interactive and those in attendance<br />
were invited to participate in quizzes based on<br />
information provided at the various booths. Nailah Ali of<br />
PSCM won the top prize.<br />
Twelve employees from bpTT came out in July to support a charity event – ‘Race 4 Your Cause’, organized by BG<br />
T&T, along with United Way Trinidad and Tobago and the Foundation for the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life.<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT’s Team ‘A’ emerged the winner of the day’s event, which included road running, spinning, obstacle courses<br />
and carrying 20 pounds of non-perishable food (all donated to the charities) to the finish line. It was indeed a fun<br />
day for a good cause. Teams had until the end of September to raise funds pledged to their selected causes.<br />
15
ABOVE: Nigel Charles (left) with Roger<br />
Coutain at bpTT’s head office<br />
16<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT’S SECURITY TEAM<br />
AT THE fOREfRONT<br />
of corporate security, risk,<br />
crisis and disaster management<br />
Security and crisis management are two of the underlying elements of<br />
keeping a business safe and resilient, and bpTT’s security and crisis<br />
management department understands this even better, with two of<br />
its members recently completing their master’s degrees.<br />
Roger Coutain, business security manager, now holds a master’s in<br />
corporate security management. He is the first person globally to achieve<br />
this designation through the ARC Training International Academy for Security<br />
Management in partnership with the Centre for Criminology, Middlesex<br />
University, and Skills for Security, the UK Skills and Standards Setting Body<br />
for the security business sector.<br />
Nigel Charles, security advisor, was awarded his master’s, with merit, in risk,<br />
crisis and disaster management from the Civil Safety and Security Unit of the<br />
University of Leicester.<br />
These were no doubt proud achievements for both individuals and the Insider<br />
interviewed both Coutain and Charles about their recent accomplishments.
Coutain’s story<br />
With Coutain, there is a great deal of purpose behind<br />
his every step. His words are carefully chosen and his<br />
approach to sharing any information is very cautious. So<br />
it seems fitting that he sits as bpTT’s manager of security<br />
and crisis management. What also fits with this profile is<br />
that he never doubted that this field of work is where he<br />
belongs. “I was inspired by my father and some family<br />
friends who were police officers. I knew from a very<br />
early age that this was for me.”<br />
Coutain started his career with the Airports Authority’s<br />
security department and in 1995, moved to the<br />
police service. Here he spent some six years in the<br />
anti-kidnapping unit of the criminal investigation<br />
department. In 2003, Coutain joined bpTT as a security<br />
specialist. He was appointed business security manager<br />
in 2004 and moved to his current role, which now<br />
includes expanded responsibility for bpTT’s crisis<br />
management, earlier this year. “I’m attracted to the<br />
field of managing risk and security. What drives me is<br />
the ability to provide expert advice to our business and<br />
stakeholders. But equally important is being able to help<br />
people outside the workplace to secure their families,<br />
loved ones and property.”<br />
So what made Coutain take the step toward attaining his<br />
master’s degree? He explained: “I wanted to enhance<br />
my academic aptitude so that it matched my professional<br />
experience. I felt this would allow me to provide the<br />
best support to bpTT and staff. I was convinced that this<br />
was the way forward for me. According to ARC Training<br />
International UK, an affiliate of Middlesex University,<br />
where I pursued my master’s degree, less than 1% of<br />
security managers globally have a degree in security<br />
management.”<br />
David Cresswell, managing director at ARC, said: “This<br />
is a momentous occasion not just for ARC but for the<br />
security profession as a whole. We began this project<br />
with Middlesex University in 2003 and it took two years<br />
to come to fruition. News of Roger’s graduation has had<br />
a hugely motivating effect on the almost 100 security<br />
professionals who are now also actively working toward<br />
achieving this degree.”<br />
Coutain has now gained invaluable experience and<br />
in a personal capacity, he feels a sense of fulfilment<br />
and increased confidence to do his job. “I’ve brought<br />
additional experience to the business and I feel that<br />
people will be even more trusting in the advice we give.”<br />
Coutain’s counsel on security is not limited to bpTT.<br />
He actively supports organizations such as Atlantic<br />
LNG, the University of the West Indies, the British<br />
High Commission, and the Neal & Massy Wood<br />
Group. “In this field, it’s about sharing what you know<br />
to minimize the risks to business and any potential<br />
impact to the country.”<br />
Charles’s story<br />
PEOPLE<br />
From the moment you sit to chat with Charles, you<br />
instantly sense the humility of one who has lots to be<br />
proud of but seeks to keep his focus instead on the<br />
challenges of the job.<br />
In the field of security, there’s always an element<br />
of uncertainty and often, a need to control great<br />
levels of risk. This is why Charles chose to pursue<br />
a master’s in risk, crisis and disaster management.<br />
“Two years ago, I realized that a strong link between<br />
crisis management and security was being developed<br />
globally and I thought it was the perfect time to further<br />
my knowledge. A master’s in this area seemed to be a<br />
right fit for me.”<br />
For Charles, this degree meant gaining a better<br />
understanding of different aspects of risk, crisis and<br />
disaster management. He chose to study topics such as<br />
terrorism, risk perception, safety related active learning,<br />
disaster management and confidential reporting. His<br />
dissertation focused on the relationship between risk<br />
perception and near-miss reporting, certainly a very<br />
important and relevant part of bpTT’s business.<br />
Before joining bpTT, Charles had already begun building<br />
his expertise in security, serving for 19 years in the<br />
police service, where he spent most of his time in<br />
the special branch, dealing with intelligence and state<br />
security. It was in 2003 that Charles felt the need<br />
for change when, coincidentally, bpTT posted an<br />
advertisement for a corporate security representative.<br />
The rest is history. Seven years later, Charles continues<br />
to be an integral part of bpTT’s security department,<br />
now in the role of security advisor.<br />
Describing his experience with the company thus<br />
far, he says: “Working with this company not<br />
only provides a high level of job satisfaction but is<br />
also very challenging. Just as persons engaged in<br />
technical areas always have to be on the cutting edge<br />
of technology, so too persons in security, and the<br />
health, safety, security and environment field as a<br />
whole, have to be at the forefront of their particular<br />
skill. It has been especially satisfying to note that<br />
most of the staff at bpTT from the top down are<br />
supportive of security. This has made the job easier<br />
and encourages me.”<br />
Having graduated in July, Charles now reflects on<br />
his degree with confidence that his choice was the<br />
right one. “Now I am able to more clearly see how<br />
security and risk, crisis and disaster management fit.<br />
It’s a real nice fit at that. Each supports the other and<br />
now I feel that I am in a more informed position to<br />
treat with risk and managing circumstances to avoid<br />
crises.” Charles is definitely a man who has taken<br />
each step in charting his professional career carefully<br />
and cautiously with no regrets.<br />
17
CORPORATE<br />
SOCIAL<br />
RESPONSIBILITY<br />
Aspiring young men and<br />
women who are set on<br />
becoming Trinidad and<br />
Tobago’s next generation<br />
of steelband composers,<br />
successfully completed the bpTTsponsored<br />
arranging and composing<br />
workshops at two venues in north<br />
and south Trinidad over the course of<br />
three weeks in July.<br />
This exercise, the brainchild of<br />
the Pan in Schools Co-ordinating<br />
Council (PSCC), was sponsored<br />
by bpTT because, according to<br />
Giselle Thompson, vice-president,<br />
communications and external affairs,<br />
“of our company’s unwavering support<br />
and commitment to facilitating the<br />
development of a distinct youth voice<br />
with the musical instrument of the<br />
country.”<br />
The workshops took place at Trinity<br />
College in Maraval and the San<br />
Fernando East Junior Secondary<br />
School in Pleasantville and saw just<br />
over 40 participants, a mix of primary<br />
and secondary school students and<br />
their teachers.<br />
While both workshops were intense,<br />
they offered the opportunity to learn<br />
under the tutelage of some of the best<br />
known in the field, including:<br />
18<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT INvESTS<br />
IN THE fUTURE<br />
of youth and steelpan<br />
• Michelle Huggins-Watts, a<br />
music teacher at Trinity College for<br />
the past 18 years and arranger of a<br />
winning tune for the WoodTrin Steel<br />
Orchestra in the schools ‘Panorama’<br />
competition.<br />
• Paul Massy, a graduate in music<br />
from the University of the West<br />
Indies and the regional co-ordinator<br />
for music for the ‘Pan in the<br />
Classroom’ unit in Caroni.<br />
• Vanessa Headley who comes<br />
from a strong musical background,<br />
with her father Frank Headley<br />
making pioneering strides in the pan<br />
pantheon.<br />
“The students have exceeded<br />
expectations. We have some talented<br />
arrangers coming,” course facilitator<br />
Huggins-Watts said at the end of the<br />
workshop. The workshop will bear<br />
fruit as early as the Panorama 2011<br />
competition.<br />
Tricia Richardson, 28, who travelled<br />
each day approximately 10km from<br />
Maloney to Maraval to fine-tune her<br />
natural talent will arrange for the<br />
Tripolians of St James in the coming<br />
season. Her zeal, interest and thirst<br />
for information demonstrate the<br />
attitude of all of the students with<br />
regard to learning about composition<br />
and the national instrument.<br />
Co-ordinator Stacy Alcantara of the<br />
PSCC has seen scores of students<br />
of all ages benefit from the annual<br />
workshops sponsored by bpTT, all<br />
of whom have gone back to their<br />
schools and panyards to share their<br />
knowledge. It has also served to raise<br />
the self-esteem of music teachers<br />
who work in the school system<br />
and are not comfortable with the<br />
instrument.<br />
The students each got a chance<br />
to share their knowledge and<br />
skills as they played and spoke of<br />
their choice of ideas, motifs and<br />
notations. They all felt a sense of<br />
pride and achievement.<br />
These young people will now go<br />
out into schools, organizations<br />
and communities to share their<br />
knowledge with others. They are<br />
the beneficiaries of bpTT’s mission<br />
to support responsible communities<br />
and to make the environment in<br />
which they exist culturally richer.<br />
TOP: Student Tricia Richardson is happy for<br />
the opportunity to learn more about music via<br />
these workshops<br />
ABOVE: Course facilitator Michelle Huggins-<br />
Watts pays close attention to students practising
<strong>BP</strong>TT ANd RENEgAdES<br />
renew their partnership<br />
<strong>BP</strong> Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT)<br />
and the Renegades Steel<br />
Orchestra recently renewed<br />
their commitment to the<br />
partnership that began 40 years ago.<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT chairman and CEO Robert<br />
Riley and Renegades president<br />
Michael Marcano renewed their<br />
partnership pledges at a formal<br />
function in June at the Hilton<br />
Trinidad. The function was held to<br />
celebrate the achievements of the<br />
band over the last 40 years.<br />
“Our association with the<br />
Renegades has been a highly<br />
rewarding experience. Rewarding<br />
in that it has allowed us as an<br />
international business corporation to<br />
make a contribution to the growth<br />
and development of one of the most<br />
distinctive elements of the culture of<br />
Trinidad and Tobago – the steel pan,”<br />
Riley shared with the gathering of<br />
Renegades band members and<br />
specially invited guests.<br />
<strong>BP</strong>TT, then Amoco, began<br />
sponsoring Renegades in June<br />
1970. Since that time, Renegades<br />
has become one of the most<br />
accomplished and renowned<br />
steelbands in Trinidad and Tobago<br />
and the world. Renegades, which<br />
has won the prestigious National<br />
Panorama title nine times, remains<br />
the only band to cop this title three<br />
years in a row.<br />
The band has also earned the title<br />
of ‘most travelled band’ through its<br />
annual tour commitments in the US,<br />
Europe and the Far East.<br />
Marcano noted that the band had<br />
formed a non-profit company in<br />
2002. He said: “The vision of the<br />
Renegades Steel Orchestra Cultural<br />
Arts & Entertainment Organization,<br />
as the company is titled, is to<br />
achieve universal acclaim as the<br />
premier steel orchestra in the world<br />
and to become a self-sufficient<br />
organization that is capable of<br />
providing sustainable employment<br />
for its members.”<br />
ABOVE: From right, Robert Riley, chairman<br />
and CEO, bpTT; Vel Lewis, deputy permanent<br />
secretary, Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism;<br />
and Michael Marcano, president, Renegades,<br />
renew bpTT’s vows with the Renegades<br />
19
On 26 July, Natural Treasures<br />
Day, all roads led to<br />
Charlotteville, Tobago for<br />
its contribution to the twoweek<br />
long Tobago Heritage Festival<br />
celebrating the island’s history and<br />
traditions. <strong>BP</strong>TT has sponsored the<br />
Charlotteville Natural Treasures Day<br />
for the past six years as part of its<br />
commitment to the preservation of<br />
national arts and cultural traditions.<br />
Together with bpTT, the residents<br />
of Charlotteville re-enact the many<br />
rituals of long ago, paying tribute<br />
and passing on local traditions to<br />
the next generation. The theme<br />
of this year’s festival was ‘Tracing<br />
Footprints’.<br />
This year’s presentation included<br />
a full day’s activities that kept the<br />
town lively with something for<br />
everyone.<br />
The morning started at Fort<br />
Cambleton to the music of a<br />
‘tamboo bamboo’ band and<br />
amplified chanting of folk songs<br />
and popular calypsos on a truck.<br />
Residents and visitors ‘trekked’<br />
through the village stopping at<br />
intervals to observe various rituals<br />
– the ‘washing of the dead bed’,<br />
‘dancing the cocoa’, baking bread<br />
in a mud oven, extracting juice<br />
from the sugar cane with a ‘batty<br />
mill’, and the different methods of<br />
preserving fish, just to name a few.<br />
20<br />
‘TRACINg fOOTPRINTS’<br />
of Charlotteville’s history<br />
“Town closes down<br />
for Charlotteville day!”<br />
said one resident of<br />
this small fishing village<br />
found on the northeast<br />
coast of Tobago with<br />
unmistakeable pride.<br />
This information<br />
was shared during<br />
the luncheon period<br />
between mouthfuls of<br />
corn meal dumplings<br />
with provisions and an array<br />
of meats and fish. Cassava pone,<br />
sweetbread, coconut tarts and local<br />
fruit ice cream were only some of the<br />
delightful goodies also on sale.<br />
Families resident in other countries<br />
came to Charlotteville to reunite with<br />
those still living at home, using the<br />
opportunity to hold family reunions.<br />
Visitors enjoyed the easy-going<br />
hospitality and savoured the ‘natural<br />
treasures’ on offer by the village.<br />
After all the jumping, ‘chipping’<br />
and singing, lunch was a semirest<br />
period before the much<br />
anticipated beach ‘Treasure Hunt’<br />
in the afternoon. The annual hunt<br />
is held on Pirates Bay and both the<br />
very young and the young-at-heart<br />
were seen having fun, looking for<br />
clues that would lead to redeeming<br />
‘treasure’ at the treasure booth.<br />
Treasured souvenirs of Charlottevillebranded<br />
jute bags and T-shirts were<br />
also on sale at the booth.<br />
TOP: Charlotteville residents and visitors enjoy the music as they<br />
walk through the village BELOW: Charlotteville residents perform<br />
in the ‘Ole Time School Concert’<br />
Bringing the curtain down on the<br />
day’s proceedings was the ‘Ole<br />
Time School Concert’ which was<br />
held in the village’s main square in<br />
the evening. This year’s skit traced<br />
the footprint of village icon, JD Elder<br />
and his contributions to Tobago’s<br />
development.<br />
At the end of it all, weary but happy,<br />
everyone agreed that “a good time<br />
was had by all”. In her greetings<br />
to the gathering, Ronda Francis,<br />
bpTT’s corporate social responsibility<br />
manager, shared the company’s pride<br />
in being associated with events that<br />
“capture our local heritage and share<br />
how our history has contributed and<br />
led to who we are today.”<br />
“The theme of tracing our footprints<br />
is one that we should all seek to<br />
do continually throughout our lives,<br />
gaining a deeper appreciation for our<br />
national cultural traditions and how<br />
they came to be.”
Lyndon Mohess, <strong>BP</strong> Trinidad and Tobago’s (bpTT)<br />
area operations manager, onshore operations,<br />
said that the annual bpTT environmental<br />
awareness competition had grown from<br />
strength to strength since its inception and<br />
it was encouraging to see so many young people<br />
becoming interested in environmental protection as a<br />
result.<br />
Mohess was addressing the prize distribution ceremony<br />
of the fourth annual Environmental Awareness<br />
Competition for primary and secondary schools in the<br />
South East Education District at the Mayaro Resource<br />
Centre in June.<br />
The bpTT Schools Environmental Awareness<br />
Competition is organized by a Mayaro-based community<br />
organization, Black Deer Foundation. This group evolved<br />
out of an initial investment by bpTT’s health, safety,<br />
security and environment (HSSE) team which provided<br />
environmental training and support to members of the<br />
Mayaro/Guayaguayare community, who then approached<br />
the energy company to sponsor the competition.<br />
Mohess stressed that bpTT believed in partnering with<br />
organizations to make a difference in the community. “We<br />
believe this is the best approach because organizations<br />
like Black Deer Foundation are in the best place to<br />
understand the needs of the community,” he noted.<br />
He congratulated the organizers, participants and<br />
teachers, as well as the judges of the various categories,<br />
for making the competition a huge success.<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
MAYARO TAKES ENvIRONMENTAL<br />
AwARENESS TO A NEw LEvEL<br />
The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Preserving<br />
Our Diversity’. The competition is open to primary and<br />
secondary schools in three categories: debating, art/<br />
poster and creative writing. Schools from the North East<br />
Education District also participate in the project.<br />
Delivering the feature address at the function, Dr David<br />
Persaud, environmental manager, Ministry of Housing<br />
and the Environment, said that indiscriminate quarrying<br />
was one of the main activities taking a toll on the<br />
environment in Trinidad and Tobago.<br />
He outlined several initiatives undertaken at national and<br />
community levels to protect the natural environment,<br />
adding that education was the key to ensuring<br />
sustainability.<br />
“This environmental awareness competition and others<br />
like it are essential components of environmental<br />
education. It is not the theory side but the practical<br />
aspect of education that is often a more effective way to<br />
get the information across to children,” said Dr Persaud.<br />
Also speaking at the closing ceremony was Rajesh<br />
Kandhai, bpTT’s field environmental advisor, who<br />
outlined some of the measures undertaken by the<br />
company to help protect the national environment.<br />
ABOVE: Anisah Khan, of North Eastern College, winner of the Art/Poster<br />
category in the 15-18 age group of the bpTT Schools Environmental<br />
Awareness Competition, explains her technique to (from left) Dr<br />
David Persaud, environmental manager, Ministry of Housing and the<br />
Environment; Rajesh Kandhai, field environmental advisor, bpTT; and<br />
Lyndon Mohess, area operations manager, onshore operations, bpTT<br />
21
<strong>BP</strong>TT jOINS vOLUNTEERS<br />
in national ‘clean and beautify’ effort<br />
Hundreds of residents from Mayaro and environs, including<br />
representatives from <strong>BP</strong> Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT), got together at<br />
the stroke of dawn one Sunday in late June as part of the ‘Clean Up<br />
and Beautify (C&B) Trinidad and Tobago Day’.<br />
Volunteers led clean-up activities in areas throughout the south-eastern<br />
region including Rio Claro, Mafeking, Cedar Grove, Mayaro, Ortoire,<br />
Manzanilla and Guayaguayare.<br />
The Honourable Winston ‘Gypsy’ Peters, Member of Parliament for Mayaro,<br />
said: “This is an excellent initiative and for weeks now, stakeholders from<br />
every village have thrown their efforts into improving the communities that<br />
we live in. We all know that our surroundings represent who we are as a<br />
people, and we want to show the very best of who we are.”<br />
22<br />
The day’s activities were officially<br />
launched at Plaisance Beach,<br />
Mayaro by Ramlochan Panchoo,<br />
chairman of the Mayaro/Rio<br />
Claro Regional Corporation, who<br />
thanked the many groups who had<br />
supported the effort.<br />
Among the prominent contributors<br />
were the residents throughout<br />
the region, the Ministry of Works<br />
and Transport, bpTT, the Mayaro/<br />
Rio Claro Regional Corporation, the<br />
Community-based Environmental<br />
Protection and Enhancement<br />
Programme, the Unemployment<br />
Relief Programme, the Civilian<br />
Conservation Corps and the Nariva<br />
Mayaro Hunters Group.<br />
Robert Riley, chairman and chief<br />
executive officer, bpTT, was in on<br />
the action and joined the volunteers<br />
to clean up the community.<br />
According to Riley: “<strong>BP</strong>TT is<br />
an integral part of the Mayaro<br />
community and this initiative<br />
gives us the opportunity to work<br />
alongside community residents<br />
for a better Mayaro. We trust that<br />
the C&B initiative is just the start<br />
of a community effort towards<br />
maintaining one of the most<br />
beautiful communities along the<br />
east coast.”<br />
According to Simon Dickson, a<br />
resident of Mayaro: “I really love<br />
the energy and spirit that we are<br />
all experiencing together as we<br />
make a contribution to improving<br />
the environment. I know that if we<br />
all work together Mayaro will be a<br />
better place for everyone to enjoy.”<br />
TOP: These volunteers are all business as they<br />
work hard cleaning up the beach at Plaisance<br />
in Mayaro<br />
BELOW: (From left) Ramlochan Panchoo,<br />
chairman of the Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional<br />
Corporation; Robert Riley, chairman and CEO<br />
of bpTT; and Winston ‘Gypsy’ Peters, Member<br />
of Parliament for Mayaro, all pitched in to help<br />
clean up the beach at Indian Bay, Mayaro
<strong>BP</strong>TT-sponsored NIgHT CRICKET COMPLETES<br />
10 SUCCESSfUL YEARS<br />
The Mayaro/Guayaguayare Unemployed<br />
Organization and Concerned Citizens held the<br />
prize-giving for its 10th annual Windball Night<br />
Cricket early in July at the Mayaro Resource<br />
Centre. The bpTT-sponsored competition was held over<br />
five months and featured 27 teams this year, including<br />
six female teams.<br />
Formally opening the prize-giving ceremony, Lyndon<br />
Mohess, bpTT’s area operations manager, onshore<br />
operations, congratulated teams and players for<br />
participating, and for the high standard of the<br />
competition. He noted in particular the high level of<br />
discipline among players and the spirit in which matches<br />
were played.<br />
According to Mohess, programmes like this develop<br />
players who have the potential to become athletic stars<br />
of the future.<br />
Some 50 prizes were awarded at the function for the<br />
league and knock-out competitions. The top prize in the<br />
men’s league competition was won by ‘Terminal Strikers’<br />
while the winner of the female league competition was<br />
‘Bomb Squad’. Winning teams received cash awards of<br />
TT$5,000 each.<br />
Persistent heavy rainfall prevented the final matches in<br />
the knockout category of both the men’s and women’s<br />
competitions from being contested. In the men’s<br />
contest ‘Terminal Strikers’ was scheduled to face off<br />
against ‘Hydrotech Best XI’, while in the women’s<br />
contest ‘Bomb Squad’ was scheduled to meet ‘Fisher<br />
Girls’. Organizers declared joint winners for both<br />
matches and split the prizes.<br />
Among the big winners of individual prizes for females<br />
was Natasha Stewart of ‘Bomb Squad’, who won the<br />
awards for Best Catch, Most Runs, Most Wickets, and<br />
Most Valuable Player in the league competition. On the<br />
men’s side, Willis Pegues of ‘Newland Warriors’ won<br />
the awards for Best Wicket Keeper, Highest Individual<br />
Score, and Most Runs in the league competition. Ryan<br />
Baksh of ‘Terminal Strikers’ won the awards for Player<br />
Taking the Most Wickets and Most Valuable Player.<br />
A team of youngsters, playing under the name ‘Lara<br />
Youths’, picked up awards for Most Disciplined Team,<br />
Most Promising Team, Most Promising Youth Player<br />
and March Past.<br />
TOP: Lyndon Mohess, area operations manager, onshore operations, bpTT,<br />
presents a trophy to Clarance Holder, captain of the men’s winning team<br />
23
Where there’s POTENTIAL…<br />
there is Energy<br />
www.bptt.com<br />
Their eagerness to learn energizes us<br />
The energy and vibrancy of our nation’s youth is inspiring, and harnessing their<br />
potential is bpTT’s focus.<br />
That’s why we support their aspirations by providing bursaries and<br />
scholarships in the fields of Engineering, Social Sciences and Geosciences at<br />
the University of the West Indies. We’re also nurturing their talents through<br />
grants to the University of Trinidad and Tobago.<br />
Our partnership with the Adult Literacy Tutors Association (ALTA) and our<br />
Brighter Prospects Programme in Mayaro, help ensure that potential for higher<br />
learning is never wasted.<br />
Where there are opportunities to channel youthful ambition, there’s energy.<br />
Where there is energy… there is bpTT