The National Energy Corporation of T&T is expanding its operations to take advantage of the niche within the regional market, its chairman Conrad Enill, has stated in its annual report for 2020.
Last year National Energy’s regional thrust was advanced following the registration of a wholly-owned subsidiary in Guyana and the establishment of an operating office in Georgetown.
“On the regional front, our Guyana office will continue to act as the conduit for positioning and marketing The NGC Group’s services throughout the Guyana-Suriname basin,” Enill stated.
“Guyana has revealed a dynamic developmental agenda as the country transitions to becoming an oil and gas-based economy. This development is strongly aligned to the experience, expertise and suite of services that reside within the Group,” he added.
National Energy’s president Dr Vernon Paltoo said regionally, the company’s offshore support vessel, the National Energy Explorer, was successful in its bid to provide short-term offshore support services in Suriname, thereby enhancing the footprint for the Company in the South America jurisdiction.
“The service included crew and cargo transportation from Chaguaramas to Suriname, for Petronas’ now successful offshore exploration operations. During the 2020 period, as a mitigation measure against exposure to the virus, the National Energy Explorer was also used as accommodation—a “floatel”, enabling crews to cocoon within the port area safely,” Paltoo stated.
Enill said that National Energy remains cognisant of the fact that to grow its business, it needs to pursue new areas to offer its services and embrace the emergent sustainable energy future.
“To this end, the company endeavoured to cement its sustainable energy strategy by securing funding from the IDB to support feasibility work geared towards understanding the economic parameters of producing green hydrogen locally. The findings of this study will provide a path to a greener energy sector,” he stated.
Enill said another positioning strategy that is expected to bear fruit for National Energy was the “deliberate decision” to appoint a general manager for the La Brea Industrial Development Company Ltd (Labidco).
“Labidco plays a unique role in providing industrial land, port, logistics, and bioremediation services, all at competitive prices for the La Brea Industrial Estate. It is envisioned that this strategic move will strengthen the Company’s governance structure to better achieve its mandate,” he stated.
“As National Energy and The NGC Group look beyond the pandemic, we are embracing the opportunity to reimagine work, the workforce, and the workplace to determine what are the optimal scenarios that would ensure maximum return to the organisations. This review may lead to fundamental changes in how we operate and how we resource our activities to meet our mandate and deliver on our vision and mission in an increasingly competitive environment,” he stated.
Enill revealed that another high-stake project was the SAP C/4 HANA initiative.
“Launched in 2019, the implementation phase continued in 2020. This system, once fully implemented, will provide full visibility, planning, automation and control of processes and schedules for our commercial assets, and offer an enhanced customer experience from booking to billing, thereby improving overall operational efficiency. As we move forward, process improvement and innovation, through technology, will be embedded in our thinking and systems, as we seek to extract maximum value throughout all our business segments,” Enill stated.
The SAP C/4 HANA Project is a digital booking to billing platform to “improve overall operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience in our port and towage operations.”
Phase 1 of the project targeted automation and digitisation of the towage booking to billing process with the implementation of Field Services Management.
Enill said that as National Energy and The NGC Group look beyond the pandemic, the plan is to embrace the opportunity to reimagine work, the workforce, and the workplace to determine what are the optimal scenarios that would ensure maximum return to the organisations.
“This review may lead to fundamental changes in how we operate and how we resource our activities to meet our mandate and deliver on our vision and mission in an increasingly competitive environment,” he stated.
In 2020 National Energy recorded its eighth consecutive year of profitability with an after-tax profit of $59 million.
However, this year’s was a decrease of $29.15 million from 2019’s after-tax profit.
In 2019, National Energy recorded an after-tax profit of $88 million.
“This performance was achieved despite the plunge in business activity within the sector, brought on by the pandemic,” Enill stated.
In 2020, National Energy’s total revenue decreased by 14.2 per cent to $308.46 million from the 2019 amount of $359.34 million.
This was said to have resulted mainly from reduced operating revenue from the impact of the pandemic on all revenue streams.
“The year 2020 brought some harsh realities due to the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, our operations’ sustainability was a focal area for this reporting cycle. With that being said, as we reflect on what was 2020, it gives me great pleasure to report that, notwithstanding the adversities faced locally and globally, the company remained steadfast in its approach to efficiency and delivery,” Paltoo stated.
“The year 2020 showed National Energy to be “more ready, than not” since the company remained resolute in supporting The NGC Group’s vision,” he stated.
Paltoo said although there were setbacks caused by the pandemic, its stakeholders, ensured that they remained on track to achieve its key business deliverables successfully.
“Our successes in this regard did not occur by chance but rather through hard work, commitment, and a keen willingness to adapt to a situation in which we had no control. We have all learnt a valuable lesson for 2020, that we cannot predict the future,” Paltoo said.
“Notwithstanding, we will remain focused on our mandate and approach 2021 with a shared vision and reinforced knowledge that together, National Energy will succeed in facilitating the creation of a sustainable energy future for T&T,” he stated.