Guyanese workers accuse Halliburton of flouting Local Content Law

Jan 11, 2023 News

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… Secretariat urges them to come forward with complaints

Kaieteur News – Guyanese making claims against alleged non-compliant local content oil and gas companies must make reports to the Local Content Secretariat so that appropriate action could be taken to address the matter. This is according to the agency’s Public Relations Officer Mikaila Prince.

Kaieteur News in the past had reported recently on locals who say that oil and gas subcontractors are hiring foreigners and paying them higher salaries than Guyanese despite them being able to do the same work. A former employee at Halliburton Guyana Inc. has also accused that company of failing to adhere to the law where Guyanese employment is concerned. The employee, who parted ways with the US oil field service provider last year, said that the company continues to ignore the law in relation to purchases and Personnel. “Presently, their Local Content record stands at a dismal approximate 23 percent to 25 percent in terms of personnel.

Additionally, they are continuing to hire Expats for positions which locals can fulfill. They are bringing in Expats from the Region, to do the same jobs as locals and pay them higher salaries, provide housing allowances, vehicle allowances, etc.,” the former logistics staff said. He explained that the majority of the local workers are paid “pittance in comparison to the expats who are primarily Venezuelans & Brazilians.”

The staffer said that in the eight years Halliburton has been in Guyana “there has been no local employee promoted to a supervisor or Coordinator position and the internship is being disguised as a way to improve Local Content reporting but 90% of the time the interns do not transition to permanent staff.” In the meantime, “the locals who are permanent are stifled and not promoted and are made to watch the expats receive a higher salary & benefits for the same type of jobs done.”

Outside of that, it was alleged that a Procurement Specialist was relocated to another department in the company, “even though he has been instructed to remove from the organization in Guyana as issued by the Local Content Secretariat & Ministry of Natural Resources.” Support Services include logistics Specialist, Materials Specialist, Finance & Admin, Real Estate Coordinator, Health & Safety Specialist, Inventory and Technicians.

Contacted on the issue Country Manager for Halliburton Vahman Jurai denied allegations of not meeting the local content employment requirement. He told the publication during a telephone conversation that the oilfield service provider “…is in compliance with the local content policies process and obligations and actually, we have exceeded our employment percentages as it relates to local content.” He said while the former employee may be making such allegations, it could be that the employee didn’t understand the law. He said “a lot of people misunderstand the local content policy.” Jurai offered the newspaper more information, but requested that it be put in writing.

In relation to the allegations, Prince said the Secretariat has received no official report on any of the allegations made. She said “We haven’t been informed officially and so I can’t comment on veracity of the claim.  I can’t confirm or deny whether this is actually the situation that’s happening at Halliburton and other companies operating here, what I can say though is that these companies are required to submit annual plans and half year plans.”

Prince explained that the annual plan represents a projection of how much companies are going to spend on services, who was employed, and how many persons were trained. The half year plan she continued would give the secretariat an idea of the locals who were actually employed, trained as well as information regarding procurement. She insisted that at the end of the year, all companies are supposed to meet the specific target of 90 percent Guyanese staff where legally required.

She told the publication that the secretariat celebrated its first anniversary just days ago and they are awaiting the companies’ plans to ascertain whether they are in keeping with the targets under the Act. She said that the Secretariat is awaiting the companies’ end of year report for 2022 which should be in by the end of the month. Prince noted that the Secretariat has methods in place to verify if what the companies are saying is actually what’s on the ground.  She reminded that there are penalties for companies not conforming to the law which include a fine of as much as $50M. She urged therefore the citizens with complaints take it to the Secretariat where it could be looked into.

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• gas, Guyanese, Law, Local Content, oil

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