Business View Caribbean - Dec 2014 45
of allowing it to do that,” said Glenn A. Earles, TOF-
CO’s general manager. “That will allow us, even while
the new project is going on, to be able to expand our
capacity and the services we offer on the brownfield
side.”
The employee headcount has been quite low for sev-
eral years, Earles said, but TOFCO recently started
work building its first new platform in nearly five years,
and looks forward to completing the project in 2016.
With the advantages it brings to the marketplace and
its expansion into new service areas, the company is
confident that it can continue to be a market leader
in the Caribbean as the platform construction market
returns.
“West Africa is a possibility in exporting technology in
the future, but not presently,” Earles said. “We are per-
forming well domestically, so why not expand interna-
tionally? It does have to be the right opportunity at the
right time.
TOFCO does fabrication, welding, rigging and performs
heavy lifts in house, along with blasting and painting
and scaffolding. The initial concept for the company
was to deal with the fabrication of offshore platforms
and it has successfully completed eight decks and
six jackets for major oil and gas companies, including
five for BP Trinidad and Tobago (Cannonball, Cashima,
Mango, Savonette, Serrette), two for EOG Resources
Trinidad Limited (Toucan, Oilbird) and one for BG Trini-
dad and Tobago (Poinsettia).
TOFCO is the only contractor based in Trinidad capable
of building large offshore platforms, so it has become
a go-to source for related services for the Trinidad pe-
troleum industry.
The Trinidadian government encourages the use of
locally based contractors working on Trinidadian proj-
ects, which makes TOFCO a valued partner. Prior to the
company’s existence, platforms had to be constructed
in the United States and then shipped to Trinidad on
