Speaking recently at the company’s eighth annual Atlantic CEO’s Sustainability Awards, CEO Nigel Darlow shared that Atlantic was delivering its highest ever levels of performance in its 17 year operating history in the areas of safety, asset integrity and reliability.
“Atlantic’s performance is something we are very proud of and we hope that the country is proud of too,” Darlow said. “Atlantic has probably the best safety record of any LNG facility anywhere in the world – having now surpassed 32 million man hours without a significant injury equivalent to over 8 and a half years of safe operations while at the same time Atlantic continues to deliver its best ever plant performance – measured in terms of reliability. So all these factors together with the fact that we have hugely talented people with deep LNG experience means that we need not worry about the ability of Atlantic to continue to be successful globally. That said, Atlantic is suffering badly from gas supply shortages every day. The Atlantic plant is now at record low levels of utilisation and we are failing to deliver on our LNG commitments. It is hurting Atlantic and its hurting the global reputation of Trinidad as a reliable producer of LNG. We have built a global reputation as a safe and reliable producer of LNG and we must continue to protect the reputation of Atlantic and Trinidad’s LNG on the world stage.”
About the annual awards event, Darlow noted, “These Awards allow us to showcase the great work being done by Atlantic’s people, and they demonstrate the talent that exists in Atlantic. Many of the 13 projects that are finalists this evening will contribute to the sustainability of our company and position us strongly for continued success.”
The Overall Winner of this year’s Atlantic CEO’s Sustainability Awards was The Train 4 Improvement and Train 4 Dehydrator Inlet Separator Project. This project significantly enhanced not just the performance of Train 4 but also that of the overall plant and involved the largest lift in Atlantic’s operating history to hoist and install two LNG process vessels with a combined weight of 410 tons. This project was also the winner in the Production Category competing against the winning projects from the Health, Safety, Security, Environment (HSSE) and Asset Integrity, Cost Management and Value Creation, People and Corporate Responsibility categories.
The CEO’s Awards panel of judges, led by Nirad Tewarie, Chief Executive Officer of AmCham Trinidad and Tobago singled out four projects for honourable mention for their current and potential contribution to community and/or national development. The Atlantic LEND (Loan for Enterprise and Network Development) Micro-Financing Agency was established in 2014 to extend credit to budding and micro entrepreneurs in the south western peninsula of Trinidad, helping to build economic diversification in the region. In 2015, the LEND Agency had disbursed 55 loans, facilitating job creation in such sectors as retail, agriculture, fishing and manufacturing. The other projects were the Atlantic/ECOSOL partnership, which mobilized a Point Fortin service provider company and facilitated the installation of a sustainable hazardous waste disposal system for Atlantic; the Atlantic Marine Trainee Programme, which trains young marine professionals for the local, regional and global marine industry; and the Non Destructive Testers Limited (NDTL) Competency Assurance and Certification Programme, a competence assessment initiative developed by service provider company NDTL to enhance the safety performance of its employees.
Feature speaker at the awards was five time Olympian and Atlantic Sports Ambassador George Bovell III. In his address Bovell noted that many Trinidadians often do not appreciate their creative genius, until it is appreciated elsewhere first. “One of our greatest challenges as a country is to change this mindset and to have confidence in our abilities and to expect excellence from ourselves. Time will tell, but I believe the greatest aspect of Atlantic’s legacy will be its assiduous contribution towards shifting this paradigm,” Bovell said.
The Atlantic CEO’s Sustainability Awards was established in 2008 to recognise innovative projects and programmes developed by Atlantic’s employees, service providers and NGO partners which help to build sustainability at the company and also in wider Trinidad and Tobago.