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Guyana’s private sector capacity increased to meet demands of oil and gas sector

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Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat has lauded the enhanced capacity of the local private sector to undertake new projects and initiatives to meet the demands of the growing oil and gas sector.

He noted that the private sector is forming consortiums and even collaborating with international companies to launch innovative ventures. This is enabled by the Local Content legislation.

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat

The minister explained that the legislation was initially crafted as a prompt to the private sector to invest in the oil and gas industry, despite the limited capacity at the time.

The private sector has eagerly answered the call and this has become even more evident with the recent commissioning of the massive US$300 million Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Inc (VEHSI) on the Demerara River.

The facility is a joint venture between Guyanese consortium – NRG Holdings Inc and Jan De Nul, an international maritime infrastructure company.It was constructed on Guyana’s first artificial island.

“Who would have known that today we would have a shore-based company in Guyana that Guyanese are a major part of? That is a tremendous achievement. Normally, in other small developing countries, you don’t have that. You don’t have this massive development with locals being involved. You have the smaller enterprises that just supply products to these entities that are local.,” the minister said during a recent interview on the ‘Energy Perspectives’ podcast.

The minister’s remarks follow VEHSI Director, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer’s recent acknowledgement that the law has been instrumental in unlocking opportunities for Guyanese.

Boyer explained that Guyanese are now ready to embrace even more business ventures in the sector.

Minister Bharrat reminded that the government will build on the successes of the current legislation and amend its tenets to promote more Guyanese involvement.

“Our capacity has increased tremendously over the last few years in terms of offering goods and services to the oil and gas sector. So much so that I think the private sector is asking us now to review Schedule One,” he pointed out.

Schedule One of the act outlines the local content levels that contracting companies must achieve. These levels vary according to the sector, but generally require a significant proportion of local employment, goods and services to be utilised.

 The act defines 40 sub-sectors that include transportation, accommodation, legal services, marketing, and public relations.

It has enabled the registration of over 1,500 local enterprises.

Nearly 7,000 Guyanese are now directly employed in the oil and gas sector. The landmark legislation will also undergo a complete review, plugging loopholes particularly in relation to compliance.

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