Both local companies and foreign-owned companies that are actively participating in the oil and gas industry have set up booths at the 2022 International Energy Conference and Expo 2022.
A team from News Update on Thursday visited the booths and we spoke to several representatives of foreign-owned companies on and off camera, on the recently passed Local Content Act.
Dale Lutchman, a representative for RAMPS Logistics, a Trinidadian company described it as a ‘landmark development’ not just for Guyana but the Caribbean community as a whole.
He said
"As Caribbean countries, we have so many local service providers in their own country but they’re unable to provide services or be able to have a fair chance to provide services to international investors."
Lutchman noted that this legislation will ensure that local businesses benefit, which is commendable. RAMPS Logistics also noted they are already complying with the act with almost 90% of their management and workforce being Guyanese.
Meanwhile, Vanessa Yacoob, Business Development Lead of EnerMech Guyana and Suriname lauded the local content legislation as well.
"I think it is fair enough, we are also participating in that. Enermech is almost a hundred per cent local Guyanese established company, all of our employees are Guyanese,"
Yacoob told News Update.
Yacoob also told News Update that they are actively providing training for Guyanese.
EnerMech is headquartered in Aberdeen, United Kingdom and has 39 office locations across 20 countries, including Guyana and Suriname.
Operations Manager of Non-Destructive Testers, a Trinidadian company also commended the act, noting that the company is providing training for Guyanese.
“It helps build the Guyanese skills sets, currently what we do is not available in Guyana, what we are doing is hiring persons so we can train them in this field,”
he said.
The Local Content Act was passed in the National Assembly in December of last year and is intended to ensure that Guyanese and Guyanese companies benefit from the oil and gas industry.
Only recently, a leaked correspondence from the Chairman of the CARICOM Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) Gervase Warner had stated that Guyana’s Local Content Act seemed to be violating the Treaty of Chaguaramas. CPSO had signalled its intention to discuss this issue with CARICOM and also the Government of Guyana. However, his statement came into conflict with the local private sector and other interested bodies.
