If Guyana is not careful with the planning of its Local Content Policy, particularly as it relates to the crafting of its targets, there could be negative consequences. Making this statement earlier today was ExxonMobil Guyana following an engagement with the media about its work in this regard.
President for ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge sought to underscore that the nation’s policy and subsequent law should be informed and supported by appropriate economic, labour, and industrial baseline studies. Routledge said, “It is essential that when driving local content in one sector, actual and projected national capacity is taken into consideration to avoid negatively impacting other sectors of the economy.”
The ExxonMobil official added, “Prior experience around the globe demonstrates that overly aggressive local content regulations and mandates can have unintended, negative consequences on the development of projects, industry, and the broader economy.”
Furthermore, ExxonMobil Guyana was keen to note that it has made submissions to the government on the draft policy, while reaffirming its commitment to implementing effective initiatives to help build a globally competitive workforce and supply base.
Guyana Standard understands that a written submission was made following engagements with officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources recently.
“We are committed to growing local content that will generate broad and sustainable economic development while supporting safe development of the nation’s oil and gas resources,” said Routledge while adding that the oil giant is pleased that the government continues to seek broad input and collaboration to develop an approach suited to Guyana’s unique situation and national development objectives.
At the end of 2020, ExxonMobil Guyana said that the total Guyanese workforce supporting its overall activities was more than 2,300. Since 2015, it said that more than GY$77.6 billion has been spent directly with more than 800 Guyanese companies for goods and services ranging from food to engineering.
