Security companies reap from LNG exploration in Tanzania

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BG Group has contracted pan-African security provider Warrior Security Company to secure its sites in Tanzania, in a partnership that has seen the 3500-strong security company extend its recruitment drive and training programme and bring innovative terms and conditions to Tanzanian security staff.

To ensure top rate security at the sites, Warrior says it has introduced higher salaries, shorter shifts, staff transport and accommodation.

“Guards cannot provide world class security working 12-hour shifts for six days a week, which is the current norm in the security industry” said Warrior CEO Tony Sugden, announcing the new contract.

To mitigate this, Warrior Security says it has recruited almost 200 new guards for the security contract, working 8-hour shifts, six days a week. It has also recruited a social worker to assist in their home needs, and has provided accommodation and transport.

“Guards who are suffering at home with issues of no water, or electricity, or sick family members, are inevitably under the kind of pressure that can see them distracted and even vulnerable. We have, therefore, put in place housing and, where guards want to stay in their current housing, our social worker visits them to check on their welfare helping to insure that our guards arrive on duty unencumbered by the stresses and strains that might disturb their ability to perform,” said Mr Sugden.

BG Group, focusing on exploration, production and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), has been operational in Tanzania since 2010, as one of several multinationals investing in the country’s emerging oil and gas reservoirs – estimated to be worth multi-billions of dollars and envisaged to transform the country into a middle income economy in the next decade.

Tanzania has drawn an array of international investors in recent years – across energy companies like Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell; international mining companies, such as Anglo Gold, as well as global soft commodities giant Cargill – as it looks to realize the benefits from its hydrocarbon reserves and a variety of associated resource and secondary industries.

Recognising the effort required to change both the mindset and the operational stance of the Company in particular (and the security industry in general), Warrior spent 3 years preparing for the contract; a vital part of which entailed the recruitment of experts to deliver international standards and create a health and safety culture commensurate with an International Oil Company.

The effort was firmly realized through Warrior’s International Standards Organisation (ISO) recertification in South Sudan, where it guards the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and which was maintained in spite of the recent troubles.

“We are now working to roll out the premium guard service that we are supplying to BG into other contracts, where we can win the support of our clients in understanding the superior security that comes with first class terms and conditions for guards,” said Mr. Sugden.

The move to upgrade the terms, which are poor across many of the region’s security operations, is in line with Warrior’s mission to address security needs with integrity and commitment to the communities in which they operate.

Gas fields, in particular, carry specific security requirements, with recent case studies confirming an increase in the range of risks associated with exploration and resource extraction, such as perimeter intrusion, employee attacks, and illegal trade and asset theft, driven by a surge in organized crime that has seen skillful criminals gain access to valuable resources.

Warrior Security will be securing BG’s sites in the Southern Tanzanian areas of Lindi and Mtwara, where they will secure 5 sites, and in Dar es Salaam, where they will secure 7 sites.

Warrior’s security arrangement with BG includes state-of-the-art alarm and CCTV systems and the provision of a substantial guard service. The guards operating at this deployment have been given intensive training to prepare them for this niche deployment, as well as passing through the usual rigorous Warrior training programme. Warrior CEO Tony Sugden said: “We are supplying over 160 security guards to BG. They have undergone intensive specialized training and have great understanding of the region. This is as part of our business model in achieving the highest standards in the training of guards, security audits and security consulting.”

The petrochemical industry brings its own particular set of security demands. “Warrior’s rigorous risk analysis procedures, advanced training programmes and crisis management capabilities make us well-placed to provide the complex and high-level protection required for a company engaged in resource exploration and extraction” added Tony Sugden, CEO of Warrior Security, which has also recently launched operations in Kenya.

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