— nearly 500 turn out at job fair

By Jared Liddell and Cassandra Khan
NABI/KCL Oilfield Construction Services Guyana, which is currently in the process of constructing ExxonMobil’s 15-acre campus located at Ogle on the outskirts of Georgetown, will be employing an additional 200 Guyanese to complete the multimillion-dollar project.

The company’s Project Manager, Steve Milner, told the Sunday Chronicle that while the company has close to 200 Guyanese working on the initial phases of the project, an additional 200 locals are necessary to complete the project.

To achieve this goal, the company held a job fair on Saturday at its Ogle location where approximately 468 persons turned up hoping to get a job.

The Sunday Chronicle caught up with a few of the attendees, including Alexis Fernandes, – a mother of three – who is currently unemployed, expressed her excitement, noting that she recently graduated from the University of Guyana with her associates degree in forestry.

Fernandes believes that the job fair is a great initiative for persons just coming out of school.

Leshana Cullymore said the event was a great opportunity for everyone, especially the younger persons.

Teriana Lindo said she heard about the job fair through her friend but she was not too keen to attend since she was not fully vaccinated. However, she changed her mind and decided to get her second dose COVID-19 and attended the event on Saturday. Linda is also currently unemployed.

Twan Smith, a 21-year-old, who learnt about the job fair on Facebook, along with several others, expressed similar views that the event provided opportunities for those who need it.

LOCAL CONTENT
Meanwhile, these employment opportunities directly correlates with the provisions of Guyana’s recently enacted Local Content Legislation.

Local content, according to Milner is an important aspect of the company’s operations. He said NABI/KCL Oilfield Construction Services Guyana is keen on increasing its local employment number throughout 2022.

“We’re looking to maximise on local content. We’re currently very high on local content in our operations. Our overall local workforce and management are around 80 per cent and we want to keep that going and increase that, if possible,” Milner told the Sunday Chronicle.

NABI/KCL Oilfield Construction Services Guyana is a Joint Venture of NABI Construction Inc., Guyana, and Kee-Chanona Limited, Trinidad – two prominent Construction Companies in the region that have teamed up to provide cutting edge construction services to the oil and gas sector here.

According to the project summary, the primary function of the ExxonMobil 15-acre campus is mainly office space supporting its operations division. The project consists of two three-storey office buildings, with a total floor area of approximately 125,000+ square feet.

It also includes surface parking, site improvements, soft and hard landscaping, and all associated infrastructure works.

The opportunities available for locals on the construction side of the project include: general labor; tradespersons; welders/fabricators; equipment operators; engineers; construction supervisors; office administration; and safety personnel.

LOCAL CONTENT LEGISLATION
Since the establishment of the oil and gas sector, many Guyanese individuals and businesses have benefitted from job opportunities and income generated from the sector. Those opportunities are set to see a significant increase in 2022 with the recent enactment of the local content legislation.

Guyana’s Local Content legislation, which was tabled by Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, and subsequently passed in the National Assembly, seeks to ensure that Guyanese and Guyanese-owned businesses are given preference when it comes to providing goods and services to the major oil companies operating within Guyana’s borders.

It outlines 40 areas that oil companies and sub-contractors procure from Guyanese companies and Guyanese nationals by the end of 2022. For instance, by the end of 2022, oil companies and their sub-contractors must ensure that 100 per cent of their ground transportation needs are satisfied by Guyanese entities.

The same percentage applies to the provision of immigration support services, customs brokerage services, and visa and work permit services. Similarly, Guyanese should provide 90 per cent of office space rental and accommodation services; 90 per cent for janitorial, laundry, catering services; 95 per cent pest control services; 25 per cent medical services; 20 per cent aviation and support services and 75 per cent local food supply.

LOCALS IN OIL AND GAS
At the recently concluded International Energy Conference and Expo, Chairman of ExxonMobil, Darren Woods, stressed the importance of locals being employed both directly in the oil and gas sector and spill-off sectors. He noted that even as the company continues to expand its operations here, locals play a major role in the company’s sustainability within the oil and gas sector.

Woods said that ‘Exxon’, since setting up its operations here, has employed more than 3,500 Guyanese, and worked with 800 local suppliers.

“From the very beginning, we worked together to ensure that our activities had far-reaching and enduring benefits for the country and its people. We believe it’s vitally important that benefits are widely shared. This includes increasing the capabilities of the local workforce and building new infrastructure,” the ExxonMobil Chairman related.

He said that ExxonMobil itself has invested in, and supports several government projects that cater to ensuring that Guyanese benefit from the oil-and-gas sector. Woods related that in 2021, the company launched a $100 million commitment to support local capacity building programmes.

That project, called “the Greater Guyana Initiative”, is a 10-year one that, in its first phase, will provide funding for significant expansion of the Centre for Local Business Development.
Technical, education and training programmes and support to the University of Guyana are also being facilitated by the Greater Guyana initiative.