ExxonMobil to launch system to track how much of local content earnings remain in Guyana

With ExxonMobil Guyana and its subcontractors having spent an estimated US$3.6 Billion with local Guyanese suppliers, the oil giant is now moving to introduce an In-Country Value (ICV) system to better understand how much of that local content earning is remaining in Guyana.

ICV is a strategic metric that measures the total economic benefit retained from corporations within a country.

President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, while speaking at a ceremony held recently for the Letter of Approval of Local Content Plans, said while tremendous progress has been made in advancing Local Content in Guyana since the passage of the 2021 Local Content Act, it is important to have a better understanding of the amount of money being retained in the country when business is done with the local private sector.

The ICV system, he said, will be launched, later this year.

“How much of the money that we spend with a local supplier is actually retained in the country, whether because the employees are local and the money is stating in local bank accounts; with their families or because they have additional suppliers that are also local, or that the owners are not just local and have a Guyanese passport but they are also living locally and banking locally, and that money is being retained and reinvested in the economy. Those are the kinds of things that we would like to understand and be able to shine the light on,” Routledge said.

Since 2015, ExxonMobil and its sub-contractors have done business with more than 2,000 local suppliers.

Routledge said in a sector that remains relatively new to Guyana, local companies have taken risks and have capitalized on the opportunities that exists. Exxon as the main operator in the Stabroek Block is pleased to advance local content in the country, Mr. Routledge said.

“It talks to that partnership between the international companies, and then the local investors and business people that have shown the ambition, they have taken the risks, they have found the financial capability to invest in business, they have struck partnerships all of which none of this is easy in order that they could meet the standards of the oil and gas industry in Guyana, that is a tremendous achievement and a wonderful foundation from which we can build going forward,” the ExxonMobil Guyana President said.

He said more Guyanese are now employed in the Oil and Gas sector, explaining that by the end of 2025, 68% of the local Oil and Gas was made up of Guyanese.

“To be able to get to 68%, in a country that had no foundation is tremendous success and should be celebrated. I think what we should also celebrate is that a third of that workforce of the Guyanese workforce is women,” he said.

At Exxon, Guyanese make up more than 50% of the workforce.

However, Routledge said oil companies are now finding it more difficult to find additional Guyanese workers.

He said to better understand the challenge, the company has launched a baseline study that is expected to be completed later this year.

“It will help us with two things – understanding what is today’s baseline workforce capacity; what can the education institutions deliver by way of additional training; of raising the capability of that capacity and then on the flip-side is what is the demand that is coming for the workforce, not just the oil and gas sector but across other sectors of the economy,” he explained.

Routledge said it was critical to understand to issue to avoid the “Dutch Disease”, adding that it is important to ensure that one industry does not rob other industries to the detriment of the long term sustainability of the economy.

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