Exxon, major contractors back Govt’s push for fair pay for skilled Guyanese workers in oil sector

The Guyana Government is looking to ensure that experienced and skilled Guyanese working in the country’s burgeoning oil and gas industry receive commensurate salaries as their overseas counterparts – something that the major operators here support. According to Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, there has been no resistance from the top industry players in Guyana. In fact, he disclosed that the United States (US)-based oil giant, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), has already signalled its willingness to support this move.
“I’ve had further conversations with Alistair [Routledge, President of EMGL… and they are in support of it, which is fair. We are not asking for anything that is contrary to the way in which they operate. We are not asking for anything unlawful. We are asking for something that is fair,” Bharrat declared during a recent episode of the Starting Point podcast. In fact, Minister Bharrat noted that even Exxon’s tier one contractors are also on board with this push for Guyanese to receive fair pay. “I recently met with the SBM CEO, who was in the country and paid a visit to me, and I raised that with him too. And they’re on board… SBM is one of the major contractors for Exxon… They’re contracted by Exxon to operate the [four] FPSOs (floating production, storage, and offloading) vessels.”

“There’s another major FPSO company, which is MODEC. The next FPSO that is coming… MODEC would be operating that FPSO… And MODEC as well too, they’re fully on board. In fact, they mentioned to me they’ve had this structure in place for a while now of fair pay. That once you have the qualification, the skill set, and you’re working in a manner that is acceptable by the company – that is having good work ethics – then it must be a fair pay system.”
While MODEC has already introduced a fair pay system, Bharrat said the company has committed to further strengthen this to ensure more Guyanese are adequately compensated for their work, as well as push for their sub-contractors to follow suit. This, according to the Minister, will augur well for locals in the industry. “A lot of tier-two, tier-three contractors are actually contracted by [the tier-one contractors] … So, that is a way of getting them to pull themselves in line too, because nobody wants to lose their contract and nobody wants to leave Guyana. So, we just got to work together,” the Natural Resources Minister stated.

Speaking at an event before 40 major operators in the oil and gas sector, Bharrat indicated that the Government has been clamping down on loopholes in the Local Content Act to ensure that Guyanese are receiving the benefits specifically earmarked for them, while also looking at ways to widen opportunities for locals within the industry. Currently, there are more than 2,000 local companies supporting the country’s oil and gas industry, while approximately 7,000 Guyanese citizens are directly employed in the sector. Over the years, more Guyanese have been building capacity and gaining experience-something that Minister Bharrat believes must attract comparable remuneration.
The Minister acknowledged that this request could not have been made at the time when the local content legislation was enacted. However, he argued that Guyanese have been upskilling themselves and gaining experience over the years, working in the local industry, offshore, and even overseas. “Four years ago, we wouldn’t have made this call because we were new in the oil and gas sector then… But ten years after, from discovery to production, we have Guyanese who have upskilled themselves, who went abroad to study on scholarship or on their own. We have Guyanese who have qualified themselves at a technical training college in Berbice, and they’re on FPSOs working alongside experts. So, now is the right time.” “Now is the right time because we have Guyanese who we can comfortably say have 10 years of experience in the oil and gas sector, or can have eight years, or can have five years in the sector. We have Guyanese with degrees and skill sets and certifications that can match some of the expert workers. And that is why we are making the call now to say that if we have Guyanese workers that have comparable skill sets, experience, and academic backgrounds as expat workers … then they should get the same salary,” he contended.
According to Bharrat, the push is for fair pay, recognising that some foreign workers receive other benefits such as housing allowances that would not be applicable to Guyanese.