The award of new oil blocks in Guyana will open the door for more Guyanese to benefit from the country’s expanding petroleum industry, according to Michael Munroe, Director of the Local Content Secretariat.
Munroe, who also serves as a legal officer at the Ministry of Natural Resources, stated that companies signing petroleum agreements with the government are bound by the Local Content Act and its requirements to hire Guyanese and source goods and services locally.
“So a contractor, if you look at the definition of a contractor, is any person who has or signs a petroleum agreement with the government,” Munroe explained on the Starting Point podcast aired Sunday. “These new entrants, they will be signing this agreement, so they too now have to comply with the obligation.”
He noted that while much of the local procurement activity in recent years stemmed from the single producing Stabroek Block, the issuance of new licenses will expand participation across the basin.
“Now we are expanding the entrants or the participants in the Guyana basin, and they too now have to comply with the Act,” he said. “So they too have to do accommodation, they too have to do transportation. Every single sector that is listed in the First Schedule, they too will now have to comply with the obligation.”
Munroe said this expansion represents “tremendous opportunity for local companies currently participating to expand and grow their businesses, but more so allow other Guyanese who might have an interest to explore the opportunities to see, how can I be a part of Guyana’s petroleum story, how can I be a part of Guyana’s local content story.”
He stressed that the Local Content Act was designed to ensure that citizens play a meaningful role in the country’s oil development. “In many producing countries around the world, you would find these companies come to the country, they come to exploit the country’s patrimony, and unfortunately sometimes you find that the citizens don’t get to meaningfully participate in that story,” he said.
“So Guyana’s story is different in that the Local Content Act is saying, Guyanese, you now have a role to play, and the companies who are coming to exploit our patrimony, they must partner and collaborate with these companies by giving them opportunities to participate in these areas.”
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Munroe added that Guyana has set itself apart by enacting legislation, rather than relying on voluntary measures. “I think we are a model to some extent because not many countries would go to the level of enacting a law,” he said. “We move past just rhetoric or maybe doing a policy. We legitimize this process by having the National Assembly go through the legislative process, and the end product was the Local Content Act.”
Guyana plans to issue four offshore blocks that were awarded to companies at the conclusion of the country’s first offshore licensing round in 2023. The awards, which will occur in a matter of weeks, include Sispro, founded by Guyanese women.
