Latest update January 24th, 2025 6:10 AM
Latest News
- VP Jagdeo exposed on Gas-to-Energy project
- $350B in loans to fund 2025 budget-Jagdeo
- Judge blocks Trump’s ‘blatantly unconstitutional’ executive order that aims to end birthright citizenship
- UK Company installs monitoring system on four drill rigs in Guyana
- Former K/NEWS sports journalist loses home in Kitty fire
Give local companies first consideration of refusal – CEO, Africa Energy Consortium
Local companies should be given the first consideration of refusal for the provision of goods and services for the oil sector. That was the assertion of Chief Executive Officer of the Africa Energy Consortium, Kwame Jantuah, in a presentation during the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit and Exhibition (GIPEX) 2019 at the Marriott Hotel last week.
CEO, Africa Energy Consortium, Kwame Jantuah
Jantuah, who presented on the evolution of Local Content in Ghana, in calling for first consideration of refusal, echoed a similar call by former President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Deodat Indar.
If someone has first consideration of refusal of something that is being offered, it means that they have the right to decide whether or not to take it before it is offered to anyone else.
Indar had suggested that, under this policy, if locals have the capacity to do the job, foreigners wouldn’t be allowed to do it. He had told Kaieteur Radio that Mexico and the US have already implemented some form of the principle in their jurisdictions.
In the case of the US, Indar mentioned the Jones Act. That aspect of US Law regulates maritime commerce in the country. It requires goods shipped between US ports to be transported on ships that are built, owned and operated by United States citizens or permanent residents. Mexico has similarly strong local content demands for its local workers and businesses.
Even the current president of the Chamber, Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, has said that local companies should have first consideration to participate as much as locals have the capacity to, in the oil sector, once they meet the standard. He said that foreigners should not be encouraged to go after the jobs that locals are able to do; and that locals should capitalise on the “low-hanging fruit” in the oil sector, like provision of labour and transportation services.
“Have a local content policy that allows locals to participate especially in these areas where it’s quite easy for them to start getting in.” Deygoo-Boyer said.
In advocating for strong local content policy, Jantuah said “The time from exploration to production for Guyana has been short just like we went through and you will need to accelerate…”
Ghana went from its first discovery to First Oil in just three years. That’s two years shorter than Guyana will.
The businessman has served on a committee in Ghana that helped develop the African country’s local content policy. Ghana’s local content requirements have been so successful that they’ve even resulted in an indigenous Ghanaian company just recently making its very own significant oil discovery, said to be the first for an indigenous African oil company.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Berbice and Jagdeo’s legacy
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News-By any reckoning, Region 6 should have been Guyana’s most prosperous region. It has a... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
