The Natural Resources Ministry is currently gearing up for its sensitisation workshop, as mandated under the Local Content Act, which is expected to gauge the country’s capacity to supply the oil industry, and further, influence amendments to the current framework.
Subject Minister Vickram Bharrat told reporters that, at some point in time, amendments would be made to the Local Content legislation as the country’s capacity develops.
He said, “We will, at some point in time, have to make some updates from amendments to the Local Content legislation, as we would have promised in the past when we were doing consultation to draft the bill… I will not tie myself to timeline as to when we will complete it, but what we are going to start just after the budget is the local content sensitisation workshop throughout the entire country, and that is a requirement in the legislation.”
One of the reasons for this workshop – which is a collaborative effort between the Ministry, the operator and contractors – is to ensure that people understand truly what is local content, and how they can benefit.
While it is not a consultative aspect for the amendment, Minister Bharrat outlined, it will be instrumental in measuring the capacity which exists in the country.
“This is the local content sensitization workshop, but it will help us and put us in a better position to understand the capacity that exists within a country. When we drafted that Bill in 2021, to be quite honest, we didn’t have a true sense of the capacity in the private sector. Right now, the private sector is working with a number of organizations to do a true assessment of our capacity.”
It has been acknowledged that, since 2021, the country’s capacity has significantly expanded, and so has production.
“So, we have to be real about our capacity in-country. A lot has changed from 2021 to now. This workshop, by going around the country and by listening to people, I think it will put us, as Government, in a better position to truly assess what has changed from 2021 in terms of capacity to offer goods and services to the oil and gas companies,” the Natural Resources Minister expressed.
Guyana has a Local Content Secretariat which is headed by Martin Pertab.
