Demps Offshore Services  To Bridge The Local Skills  Gap In Tanzania’s Oil and Gas Sector.

 

Sudesh Dewar, Is the Chief executive Officer of Demps offshore services, He talks about the operations, challenges, and initiatives for overcoming the local workforce challenge in East Africa’s oil and gas sector with special focus in Tanzania.

HUSSEIN BOFFU  brings the excerpts

 

Briefly tell us how did you get into oil and gas business?

Started my career in the oil & gas field from the year 1985. Commenced my career from the fleet personnel department. My involvement revolved around crewing & Manning for various offshore spreads in the offshore oil field sector.

Later took over international assignments, functioning from UAE. Was instrumental in setting up offices & operations within the India & middle east region for my then employers. Developed & managed international crewing agencies & vessel agents for offshore projects which were pertaining to Oil explorations & Offshore EPC.

Finally ventured into my own business in the year 2006 of providing professional crew management services to offshore/onshore projects. Covered all segments of oil & gas. We have the ability to arrange & manage large contingent of the workforce for multiple projects. We handle the entire gamut of HR. Our concept/intention is to ease out the pressure of managing the required manpower & give the client room for focusing on other important issues. Our philosophy is to be an integral part of the client’s project success. My company stands on three pillars namely dependability, client’s confidence & professionalism.

 

Skilled workforce shortage is the biggest challenge in developing the local oil and gas industry. How does that impact your operation in the region, is there any internal mechanism to overcome the challenge?

Looking at the current workforce in Tanzania especially for oil & gas projects is an absolute shortage. This is because there have not been any large oil & gas operations carried out in the past. Our company stands a great chance to capitalize due to our geo-strategic location (India). We will be providing highly professional manpower be it for any projects at a very competitive price. One of the reasons for being price competitive is because of our location.  As we intend to open up our branch in Tanzania, all efforts will be made to train & develop the local manpower available. Thus creating job opportunities. This will further make us more competitive in services & rates.

 

The industry crash of 2014-2017 was the worst in the decades.  The price of oil is recovering gradually. How has this impacted your operation?

Yes, the oil prices are increasing with some setbacks from time to time. Considering the price fluctuation & upper trend we prepare ourselves in such a way that we can sustain especially the downtrend & complete the ongoing contracts. Hard negotiation on salary, surplus skilled crew availability in the market, providing steady employment, lucrative perks are the essence of our competitiveness. If indicated by the clients the project contract value, we can come out with competitive price thus enabling the clients to complete projects on a profitable note.