Even though the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) requires ExxonMobil to give Guyana US$300,000 for local content efforts, the company’s President, Alister Routledge noted today that ExxonMobil is already going above and beyond this requirement.
During an engagement with a selected group of media operatives, the official said he has seen comments by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo to the effect that the US$300,000 in the contract is a paltry sum. Dr. Jagdeo had also said that the government would demand more from the company.
With this in mind, Routledge said that ExxonMobil has already spent far more than that. To cement his case, he pointed to an eighteen-month training that the company did for 24 Guyanese in Canada. He said that this exercise which will result in locals going on the Liza Destiny to work as maintenance technicians cost ExxonMobil US$2.5M alone. “And that is just one example. So we are committed to training Guyanese,” the President concluded.
