Min. Bharrat praises success of local content legislation

Sep 20, 2025 News

…says govt. to hold consultations to fix loopholes

Kaieteur News – Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, has praised the success of the Local Content Act, even as government prepares to consult stakeholders on closing loopholes in the legislation.

Min. Bharrat praises success of local content legislation

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat

In 2021, Guyana passed its local content law, which caters to locals getting first preference in the country’s oil and gas sector. The law is intended to regulate the way companies operate in Guyana’s oil and gas sector; employ persons, buy services and the way that they procure goods.

During an interview with this publication, the minister cited calls from the local private sector bodies for government to review and amend the law. “It is something that obviously we will discuss at a policy level, and we definitely will have to rule consultation before any changes are made,” he added.

Since the law was enacted, several loopholes were identified by the government and they had promised to make amendments to the law during this current term. Notwithstanding this, the minister reminded of the positives that have come to locals since the implementation of the law.

“I think over the last five years local content has really been a success story, not only for oil and gas sector, but across the country. We’ve seen many other sectors applying the local content legislation in their investment policy too. So, I would say that has been a big success for us at the ministry of natural resources,” Minister Bharrat stated.

He noted that he has seen many local companies engaged in the oil and gas sector supplying companies with goods and services.

The minister added, “We have seen companies coming to Guyana wanting to invest in services outside of schedule and still engage in local partners, local private sector to partnership with joint ventures, which I would say, move in the right direction.”

According to the PPP’s 2025 manifesto, the party plans to conduct a review of the Local Content Act this term in consultation with oil and gas as well as other stakeholders.

The review will be conducted with a view to identifying opportunities for expanding and updating the law, continue training and capacity building efforts, to equip more Guyanese nationals for quality jobs in the oil and gas sector, and equip more Guyanese companies to be able to compete for business opportunities in the sector.

One notable part of the PPP’s plan to review the Local Content Act, is to examine the possibility of expanding applicability of the act to other sectors, particularly the gold and bauxite mining sectors. The PPP said that this being considered especially in light of imminent large-scale developments.

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Local Content Act, Local Content legislation, natural resources, Vickram Bharrat

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