Private Sector must independently assess needs of oil industry - Minister Indar urges

Private Sector must independently assess needs of oil industry – Minister Indar urges

Jul 26, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The Private Sector must do its own assessments of the needs of the oil industry, if it intends to grasp as much opportunity as possible for locals, advised Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar on Thursday last.

Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar

The Minister, who has responsibility for oil and gas, made the remarks at the launch of a training centre by the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC).
The Minister commended the oil chamber for launching a training centre so locals can be sensitised to take up roles in the industry.
“A lot of people did their own assessment about what we need as a country,” the Minister said. He related that a lot of roles are still being taken up by foreign companies and workers.
The Government is conducting a needs assessment in order to inform its regulatory work. It is preparing to mandate that quotas must be carved out for locals in all the aspects of the oil industry, where locals have the capacity to provide the goods and/or services. The quotas will be enshrined in Guyana’s local content policy, and are expected to evolve based on the development of local capacity to serve the industry.
The Minister said, however, that the private sector must conduct its own assessment because it knows all the “nuts and bolts” of the sector.
“What do you need on the rigs? What do you need on the floatels that you have out there? What do you need on the FPSO? What do you need on the supply vessel? What do you need on the tug boats? What do you need in the shorebases? What do you need in the chemical plants? What do you need in the factory?”
He said it is fine if organisations such as the oil chamber conduct basic sensitisation training, but that that is just scratching the surface.
“You need to go further,” the Minister said.
He explained that specialised training activities will be warranted, based on the needs of the industry.
“All those organisations that support the oil & gas sector have special needs. And those needs need to be filled with certified people.”
“What are the certifications they need? How do we get them trained? How do we put them in quickly?”
Indar said all of this needs to be dealt with systematically, and placed into a holistic document, if locals really want to enjoy the benefits of the exploitation of Guyana’s oil.