–Says lasting benefits will depend on businesses expanding, training workers and building capacity
Guyanese businesses benefiting from the country’s expanding petroleum sector should be looking beyond immediate contracts and using their earnings to strengthen and expand their operations, Senior Petroleum Coordinator at the Ministry of Natural Resources Dr. Bobby Gossai Jr. has said.
Gossai said the Government is increasingly interested not only in how much money is being generated locally through the oil and gas industry, but in what local companies do with the profits they earn.
Speaking on the Energy Perspectives podcast, he said local content is already being assessed through indicators such as the number of contractors operating in the sector, employment and local expenditure.
However, he said these figures do not tell the full story of whether the sector is creating lasting economic benefits for Guyana.
“We want to see how much of that local profitability is used for further investment and reinvestment,” Gossai said.
He identified the expansion of businesses, the recruitment of additional workers and investment in training as examples of how companies can convert their participation in the petroleum sector into longer-term growth.
He said, “Whether that is building your staff complement, whether that is training your people or whether that is expanding your business.”
Gossai’s comments point to a broader expectation for local companies as Guyana’s petroleum industry continues to expand.
Rather than local participation being measured only by the immediate economic activity generated through contracts, he said the focus should also be on whether businesses are developing the capacity to take on more sophisticated work.
He said local content should result in “real value addition to the country”, with partnerships and joint ventures providing opportunities for Guyanese businesses and professionals to acquire specialised skills and knowledge.
Gossai said the transfer of expertise is particularly important as the industry develops and Guyana moves into areas requiring greater technical specialisation.
He said the knowledge gained through working with international companies should remain in Guyana and evolve within local businesses and the wider workforce.
“That is the companies that are working here, the partnerships that are being formed, the joint ventures that are being formed, for those skills to be transferred here, for that know-how to be known in Guyana and for it to evolve over time,” he said.
The Senior Petroleum Coordinator said the longer-term objective is for Guyana to develop enough expertise to provide specialised services from within the country rather than continuously depending on foreign companies and professionals.
He also pointed to the emerging development of the country’s natural gas resources as an area that could create additional opportunities for local businesses.
“As we move into the development of the gas resources, there are opportunities there which we will have to look at, that Guyana is capable of producing or supplying for that other resource as well,” he said.
Gossai said the Government is working through the Local Content Secretariat with oil companies and suppliers to create opportunities for Guyanese participation in the sector.
He noted that the Local Content Act currently identifies 40 areas of activity while allowing for the framework to evolve as the petroleum industry changes.
According to him, local content cannot be treated as a fixed system because the oil and gas industry is dynamic and Guyana’s participation must develop alongside it.
He said the Government continues to engage business development organisations and members of the public on areas where the local content framework could be improved and where additional opportunities could be created for Guyanese companies.
Gossai also said information on local content performance is publicly available through the Ministry of Natural Resources’ online platforms, including its local content portal.
For him, the ultimate test is whether petroleum activity helps create stronger, more capable Guyanese businesses that can continue growing, employ and train more people and build expertise that remains in the country.
That, he suggested, would give local participation a value that extends beyond the life of any individual oil-sector contract
