Procurement in the oil and gas industry seems to be booming. In fact, since ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), opened its Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD) on South Road in 2017, there have been over 1,900 suppliers added to its electronic database, with 650 being Guyanese.
All the companies are required to supply crucial information if they wish to qualify for contracts. These include the name of the business, location, contact details, website address and basic company biography, tax information such as Value Added Tax (VAT) registration, ownership details such as local versus foreign ownership percentages, business certificates such as Health, Safety, Security and the Environment (HSSE) certifications, quality management and risk management information, referrals from top clients of the company, and details of their management systems.
Based on the 2019 Guyana Oil and Gas Industry Market Report that was prepared by the DAI Sustainable Business Group, over the last 18 months Guyanese companies have started to better adapt to the realities of the industry and are viewing a potentially large oil sector as an investment opportunity. In fact, DAI said that Guyanese companies have begun to form partnerships. However, due to the sheer scale of the industry and the long-term prospects for business, DAI stressed that opportunities for partnerships in many areas remain.
DAI, which is assisting Exxon’s subsidiary in preparing the suppliers to meet industry standards, also noted that clear opportunities also remain for the provision of goods in the industry which can be developed over time.
In the equipment space, it said that there is a need for companies that provide drilling services, industrial manufacturing and processing, marine and diving equipment, tanks, vessels, and welding equipment.
In HSSE space, companies that provide monitoring, scrap and waste materials, general oil field chemicals, electronic and instrumentation services, manufacturing components, metal materials, non-metal materials, piping, and tubing would be an asset in-country.
With respect to in the indirect services, DAI said that there is a need for the provision of building and facility repair as well as insurance products that match industry standards.
For direct execution services, companies that represent bolt tensioning, inspection services, insulation services, leak sealing, waterproofing, undersealing, machining and fabrication, materials laboratory testing, and combined annual inspection services would be needed.
DAI stressed that all these goods and services will be needed at a large scale both in the future development stages and the long-term operations and maintenance of the fields that will be executed in the oil-rich Stabroek block.
