Dear Editor,
THIS weekend, buried amid reports on the Court of Appeal ruling, I noticed some mentions that an American marine transportation company, Harvey Gulf, is setting up shop here in Guyana. While capturing onshore benefits and local content from the oil industry has moved out of the limelight, we would do well to remember that work is continuing offshore, and first oil is rapidly approaching. Like many, I am concerned that Guyanese will miss out on employment opportunities if the industry favours international contractors.

This was my initial reaction to the Harvey Gulf reports. Perhaps yet another instance of foreign investors capturing the opportunity presented by oil development. Yet, as I read I was pleased with the approach that this company is taking and grew more optimistic about its prospects. Lately, we’ve heard a lot about local content with regards to a potential policy and increased numbers of Guyanese hires. Just the other week we saw headlines about 24 Guyanese persons hired by ExxonMobil for Liza Phase-1 operations. While this is excellent news, and we all wish them well, I am not alone in desiring additional opportunities for Guyanese. My hope is that Harvey Gulf will be an example of this.

Harvey Gulf specializes in providing offshore support vessels for deep-water operations. The US- based company is setting up a physical onshore office which will employ approximately 125 people, primarily Guyanese. It appears that it will be a priority of Harvey Gulf as they’re putting a lot of emphasis on their willingness to work with local resources – as it should be! Harvey Gulf foresees training taking 6 months maximum and, in those 6 months, recently-hired Guyanese will travel to the US for corporate safety training. This should signal a long-term investment in our trainable workforce.

The company’s leadership emphasized this point. The articles covering the announcement say that they’re focused on figuring out how to “best serve the Guyanese people” and continue to point to their track record as proof of their company’s operational excellence.

While this rhetoric is encouraging, for now, we must consider it mere lip service as we look forward to Guyanese being hired, trained and deployed onto the coming vessels. It is imperative that we Guyanese gain these positions to solidify our position as an eager, capable workforce. Hopefully, this opportunity pans out and new opportunities for training and development follow it.
Regards
Clement Smith