–made tremendous headway in the area of local content

By Tamica Garnett

EXXONMOBIL reports having spent $77.5 billion on Guyanese-owned businesses since 2015, and grown its workforce to reflect a local-content capacity of over 56 per cent.

That’s according to Company officials during the virtual opening ceremony of the “Guyana Suppliers Forum 2021” on Monday.
Of the total sum expended on Guyanese-owned businesses thus far, Exxon says, approximately $31 billion was spent in 2020 alone on some 806 companies, representing an approximate 29 per cent increase on the over $24 billion it had reportedly spent in 2019.

“We are very proud of the progress that we have made with local content. Over time, we have progressed efforts with continued growth in hiring and development of personnel, and expansion in the area of supplier utilisation in three years, growing from less than 500 Guyanese personnel to over 2300, and from less than 100 vendors to over 800 vendors in 2020,” Company Production Manager Mike Ryan shared during his video remarks at the Forum.
According to Ryan, notwithstanding the constraints of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, which greatly affected the economy in 2020, the ‘Exxon’ workforce grew to over 4100. The over 2300 Guyanese at the company, he said, represent a 21 per cent increase in Guyanese labour when compared with the 1900 that were on the team in 2019.

Much of the growth in terms of local-business involvement has been credited to the Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD), established in 2017 by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd, an affiliate of Exxon Mobil Corporation in collaboration with DAI Global, LLC.
Monday’s Forum, which was a CLDB initiative, was aimed at providing a unique virtual platform for Guyanese suppliers to receive up-to-date information on the procurement process, key contacts, upcoming and longer-term tenders directly from ExxonMobil Guyana and its leading prime contractors.
“For ExxonMobil, it is important that we have, and that we continue to grow our local supply chain, and that local businesses get a chance to participate in the development of Guyanese oil and gas,” ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge said during his presentation. “This Forum is an opportunity for us to explain our business; show you the progress we are making, and for you to engage us,” he added.

Routledge commended the strides that the company has been making in catering to local content.
“I am delighted with the progress we’ve made to date, spending over $77.5 billion on over 800 local companies,” he said, adding: “But this is only the start, and this is the opportunity for them to continue to grow and be part of the development of Guyana oil and gas resources.”
Also making remarks at the Forum was Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, who disclosed that his ministry will be establishing a Local-Content Secretariat to look at the sustainable management of the local supply chain between the oil-and- gas companies and local businesses.
“The Ministry of Natural Resources will be establishing a local-content secretariat to coordinate all activities on local supply chain management at a national level,” Minister Bharrat said, adding: “This will be complementary in our efforts to understand local authority and oil-and-gas companies, concerns, motivation and strategies in dealing with local content policies.”

The minister was at pains to emphasise that it is vital that the country has a proper business policy to address gaps and identify internal factors, and explore relationships with the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) strategies.

“Guyana’s current development of the oil and gas which will allow for improved economic growth and social activities necessitate that there be better standards and procedures that provide for the sustainability of the industry’s supply chain. Hence, SSCM practices must include firm internal factors that affect the sustainability strategies employed by different functional areas of its supply chain,” the Minister said.

He stated that the proposed secretariat will work along with the CLBD to provide opportunities for well-established businesses, and commended the hosting of the Forum.

The “Guyana Suppliers Forum 2021” commenced on Monday, and will run until February 5. Day One entailed presentations from the MNR, the Private Sector Commission, ExxonMobil Guyana, Tullow, and 10 prime contractors from the oil-and-gas sector, while from February 2-5, the event will be used for discussions between the suppliers and the oil-and-gas companies.
Delivering remarks on behalf of the PSC was its Chairman, Nicholas Deygoo, who lauded the hosting of the forum as a vital means of ensuring that local businesses are well informed, and are given an opportunity to benefit from Guyana’s oil-and-gas sector.

“Further, with Guyana working to develop a robust local-content policy, this will allow for greater Guyanese participation as our economy develops. We look forward to continued ventures of this nature to build capacity,” he said.

This is the second hosting of the event, with some 300 local businesses having attended the forum when it was first held in 2018 at the Marriott Hotel.
This year, over 2700 businesses were invited to take part in the Forum.