Georgetown: Director of the Department of Energy Dr. Mark Bynoe has announced that Guyana’s Local Content Policy has been completed and printed.
This disclosure comes after the final draft underwent a period of scrutiny by stakeholders.
“It remains what we call a fit for purpose policy as it offers a balanced alignment between the government of Guyana policy goals whilst maintaining consistency with Guyana’s international and regional trade and economic cooperation obligations,” Dr. Bynoe told media operatives on Monday.
He added that the policy promotes education, inclusion and advancement of Guyanese who demonstrate the expertise and experience required to participate in the petroleum industry. Dr. Bynoe emphasised that the document ensures Guyanese participation in the industry.
According to the energy head, the department has been working with the operators to begin reporting on local content performance in keeping with the policy. The last report from December stated that over 1,900 Guyanese were directly involved in the sector.
To further strengthen the petroleum sector, the government of Guyana has contracted the services of Hunton Andrews Kurt LLP “to revise, replace and develop the act and legislation to govern the petroleum sector.”
In keeping with the Department’s practice of local content building, local law firm Cameron and Shepherd will be working along with Hunton Andrews Kurt LLP on the consultancy. The law firms are expected to revise the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, looking at all aspects of the petroleum industry under the $250.5Million (US$1.2M) consultancy.
“Let’s take, for example; we have been clamouring for legislation around local content, we have no such legislation all of those have to be developed. We have nothing that governs downstream activities; we have nothing that governs mid-stream activities.
Look at our sister agencies such as the EPA and their regulations they have that would govern the petroleum sector. They are expected to look at the wide sweep of regulations within the sector,” the Energy Director expounded.
The firms were contracted through a $4.2Billion (US$20M) World Bank loan.
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