The Department of Energy today announced that the Local Content Policy for the Oil and Gas Sector has been completed and printed.

“It is now a deliverable”, DoE Head, Dr. Mark Bynoe announced at a press conference this afternoon.

He has promised that the full policy will be released to the media.

Dr. Bynoe explained to reporters that the policy remains a fit for purpose one, which balances the alignment between the Government’s policy goals while maintaining consistency with Guyana’s international and regional trade and economic cooperation obligations.

There have been calls for a local content policy to be put in place before Guyana started oil production. The country started oil production back in December without the full policy in place.

Dr. Bynoe outlined that there are several initiatives covered by the local content policy including several that offer advancement for Guyanese citizens in the oil and gas sector.

“It promotes education, inclusion, and advancement of Guyanese persons who demonstrate expertise and experience required to participate in the petroleum industry. It ensures the participation of Guyanese persons in employment opportunities. It ensures capable Guyanese suppliers of contracting and procurement opportunities within the petroleum sector, inside and outside of Guyana”, Dr. Bynoe said.

He went on to explain that the local content policy also pushes for and ensures the stimulation of cost benefits for the oil and gas sector and enhances alignment with good industry standards in the petroleum sector.

It was also explained that the Energy Department has already started to work with the operators in the oil and gas sector to commence reporting on local content performance as it relates to the policy.

There are over 1900 Guyanese directly employed in the petroleum sector, Dr. Bynoe revealed. That figure was provided at the end of December and 75% of that number represents persons in the skilled and professional categories.

Additionally, Dr. Bynoe said there are over 750 Guyanese vendors are involved with the supply of goods and services to the companies in the oil and gas sector.

Guyana is expected to lift its first 1million barrels of oil next week and systems are already in place for that, Dr. Bynoe revealed.

He said the department has been making progress in a number of areas including monitoring and in cost recovery.

The ExxonMobil company has already made 16 oil finds in Guyana with an estimated 8 billion barrels.

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