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Oil companies’ Local Content Reports will be made public – Policy will be ready by June – Energy Dept. Head
By Kiana Wilburg
According to its contracts with Guyana, oil companies are required to submit reports to the government within 90 days of the end of the year outlining their achievements in utilising Guyanese resources.
In the interest of transparency and accountability, Energy Department Head, Dr. Mark Bynoe recently assured Kaieteur News that these Local Content Reports would be made public. Speaking at a press conference that was held last week at the Ministry of the Presidency, Dr. Bynoe said there have been some issues with the initial reports.
Dr. Bynoe said, “What we have been working with the operators to do is to ensure we have greater granularity in terms of presentation of the plans so we know who they are targeting, at what occupation levels, over what period and how that is being reported. What we have found in the past is that it has been general. Sometimes, they just report on a contract that is signed and there isn’t much drilling down to examine details.”
Energy Dept. Head, Dr. Mark Bynoe
The Energy Department Head also made reference to the contract that was recently signed between ExxonMobil and NABI/KCL Oilfield Construction Services Guyana for the latter to construct the oil operator’s headquarters at Ogle.
Dr. Bynoe said, “We see that Nabi signed a contract to build the headquarters for Exxon but what is captured is the fact that a contract was signed and the contract value that goes to Nabi, but what we are not capturing is how many contractors have been contracted to bring sand or stone, cement, and steel…these are often not captured.”
Further to this, Dr. Bynoe said that Guyana’s long awaited Local Content Policy is going through a discussion phase and is expected to be completed by the ending of June 2019. Local Content Expert, Dr. Michael Warner was awarded a contract in February, last, to the tune of $22M for the completion of the policy. But the Ministry of Presidency had come in for much criticism for using Dr. Warner who is also an employee of ExxonMobil and has said on several occasions that he has a keen interest in ensuring the contractor’s views are reflected in the Local Content Policy.
When Kaieteur News challenged Dr. Bynoe about this, he made it clear that Dr. Warner was hired on a competitive basis and received the blessings of the World Bank, which is financing the project.
The Energy Department Head said, “…And we are confident that we are getting value for money.”
He assured that before the policy is finalized, it will be the subject of a consultation process.
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