Duke Mortimer Matthew Munroe is new the Chief Petroleum Inspector for the Cayman Islands.

Mr. Munroe served as Regional (functional) Manager for Chevron in the Caribbean for nearly a decade, which sparked his interest in the Petroleum Inspectorate (PI) with the Cayman Islands Government. He said that he applied for the position so that he could make a positive contribution to the department, the country and the petroleum industry.

“Having interacted with the PI in my previous role, I was very impressed with the functioning of the department and its mandate as required by law. It was the most structured, well-defined and organized regulatory body to which the major petroleum companies were subjected, in all of the territories I managed under Chevron,” Mr. Munroe said.

Alan Jones, Chief Officer for the Ministry of  District Administration, Works, Lands and Agriculture,   welcome Mr. Munroe to the team. “Duke has a strong academic and engineering background and I look forward to his contribution to the office,” Mr. Jones said.

During his tenure with Chevron, Mr. Munroe was exposed to many facets of the company, including finance, accounting, legal, logistics and supply chain management, procurement and administration. Over almost 10 years in the petroleum industry, one of his key roles was safety, health and environmental stewardship.

“While these areas are critical to everyone in the petroleum industry, my role was more active in driving compliance in these areas. This involved complying with standards across the industry and its governing bodies.  Further, my responsibility at Chevron covered 15 countries in the Caribbean and South America, including the Cayman Islands. Essentially, in my latter years I managed the company’s assets (retail, industrial properties and facilities) in these territories,” Mr. Munroe stated.

A native of Guyana, Mr. Munroe, having completed a B.Eng. and an MBA began his career in 1999 as lecturer at the University of Guyana. He subsequently transitioned to lecturing at the Government Technical Institute/College and has since lectured in the areas of Engineering, Mathematics and Public Management at both these institutions. He later shifted gear in his career by moving to the sugar industry where he worked as an Engineer/Manager at one of the sugar factories.

In 2002, Mr. Munroe joined Chevron (which had just acquired Texaco in the Caribbean) and started his career in the petroleum industry. He explained that at first he was hesitant, because he thought working with a petroleum company was mainly marketing and public relations. But to his surprise he found it to be an “industry of perfection.”

“Working in one of world’s largest industry with elevated potential for major hazards, an eye for detail backed by formal processes of scrutiny and oversight are important. You need to respect even the smallest amount of risk and evaluate that risk constantly.

“I look forward to the next few years in the role as Chief Petroleum Inspector and hope to build on the accomplishments of my predecessor and the current team in the department. The activities currently carried out by the department are indicative that the Inspectorate is evolving”. Mr. Munroe said.

The role of Petroleum Inspectorate 
The Petroleum Inspectorate (PI) was established in 2003 to ensure that sound industry codes of practice were adopted. It was also charged with ensuring that safety and environmental management systems are effectively developed and implemented and ensuring that proper emergency planning and coordination are carried out.

Additionally, the role of Petroleum Inspectorate is to assess whether the petroleum and compressed gas industries are adequately managing their obligations to safeguard health, safety and the environment by regularly conducting inspections of the facilities such as the bulk storage terminals, service stations, marinas, utility companies, Liquefied Propane Gas (LPG) facilities, compressed air facilities, industrial and wholesale tanks and vehicles transporting petroleum.