ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge says the next phase of local content development should see Guyanese companies moving beyond the easier opportunities in the oil and gas sector and taking on more challenging areas of the supply chain.
Speaking at the August 11 launch of the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo 2027, Routledge said significant progress has already been made in building local participation, but there is considerably more that can be achieved.
“How do we strengthen the supply chain? How do we continue to push beyond today’s frontiers? Get into parts of that supply chain which are not the low-hanging, juicy fruit, but the harder ones higher up the tree,” Routledge said.
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He also pointed to building Guyana’s human capacity as an important part of the sector’s next stage of development. Routledge noted that some of the capabilities and technologies underpinning the industry’s development have been brought into the country, raising the question of how Guyana can increasingly leverage those capabilities.
According to Routledge, more than 2,000 individual vendors and suppliers have participated in the industry to date, while the sector has spent more than US$3.6 billion with local companies.
“These are significant numbers and significant contributions,” he said. “But we believe that there is a lot more we can do.”
Routledge said continued collaboration would be important to further strengthening local participation, including creating an environment in which international companies can draw on expertise and knowledge developed in Guyana.
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He said the aim is for “more international companies” to come into the country and “benefit from the local expertise, the local knowledge,” helping to propel Guyana’s development further.
Routledge credited collaboration among ExxonMobil, its Stabroek Block co-venturers, the government, private sector and business support organizations with helping to build the industry to its current position. He said those partnerships have helped ensure that local industry and businesses benefit from development of the country’s petroleum resources.
He said the broader objective is for the development of Guyana’s resources to benefit Guyanese widely, while the country’s oil also helps meet global energy demand.
