Home News Over $60B spent on local suppliers from 2015 to 1st half of...
ExxonMobil Guyana has said that from 2015 to the first half of 2020, more than $60 billion has been spent on over seven hundred local suppliers for goods and services provided to the company.
ExxonMobil Guyana’s Local Content Advisor, Devon Seeram, during a virtual update on Friday, related that the company, since it began operations in Guyana, has taken serious measures to engage Guyanese skills and local suppliers and will continue to expand these efforts in the coming years.
“Over time we have progressed efforts with continued growth and hiring and development of personnel and expansion in the area of supplier utilisation…We will continue to develop Guyanese workers and suppliers for wider long-term economic benefits,” Seeram posited.
He noted that for the first half of 2020, the company utilised more than 600 Guyanese vendors, with more than $14 billion going to those vendors for the procurement of goods and services, ranging from foodstuff to engineering.
Seeram further highlighted that ExxonMobil Guyana’s direct workforce is approximately 155 employees of which 87 are Guyanese. This, he noted, represents more than 50 per cent of Guyanese workers.
The company had outlined previously that more than 2000 Guyanese are supporting its operations, representing 55 per cent of the total workforce. These are workers who are engaged by various contractors providing services to ExxonMobil Guyana.
Meanwhile, in terms of training, Seeram detailed that since 2015, Guyanese have benefited from more than 350,000 hours of training, both locally and abroad.
Exxon had said that more than 50 Guyanese have been trained internationally in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Singapore, Trinidad, United Arab Emirates and the United States, to gain hands-on oil and gas experience to leverage in Guyana.
With more foreign investments expected to flow in as Guyana embarks on a path of massive transformation and development, President Dr Irfaan Ali had assured that all Guyanese will have equal access to the opportunities that will become available.
The President had assembled a high-level team of experts to advise his Government on the formulation of a strong Local Content Policy that will ensure all citizens benefit from the country’s lucrative oil and gas sector.
The Local Content Advisory Panel is being chaired by President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Shyam Nokta and include former Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, former Energy Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kevin Ramnarine, and former Chairman of the Public Service Commission Carvil Duncan. Also sitting on the panel are Floyd Hayne and Dr Anthony Paul.
The panel is expected to conduct expansive consultation and review and devise recommendations that will inform the country’s Local Content Policy.
President Ali had acknowledged that there is much to be done in terms of capacity building among local stakeholders. However, he had expressed that with the right mix, which includes technology transfer and partnership between experienced companies and the local Private Sector, a sustainable and lucrative pathway can be achieved for Guyanese within the Local Content Policy.
