ExxonMobil Guyana said on Wednesday more than 2000 Guyanese are supporting its operations in the South American country, representing 55 percent of the total workforce.
The company said its direct workforce grew to 155, more than 50 percent of which are Guyanese who received more than 100,000 hours of training as of the first half of 2020. Approximately 80 percent was in the areas of Professional/Technical and Craft/Trade training. More than 50 Guyanese have trained internationally in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Singapore, Trinidad, United Arab Emirates and United States, to gain hands on oil and gas experience to leverage in Guyana.
ExxonMobil said despite the challenges of COVID-19, in the first half of 2020 over GYD$14 billion was spent locally and over 600 Guyanese suppliers were used for services ranging from foodstuff to engineering.
“What we’ve done to date is remarkable, and I want to build on our local content accomplishments,” said President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge. “Continued growth of Guyanese capabilities is exactly what we want to see, and we remain committed to supporting this development.”
The Centre for Local Business Development remained supportive of local businesses with a transition to virtual courses. Additionally, nearly 100 electronic tender notifications were released to over 2400 Guyanese companies, and the Centre continued mentorship of 10 Guyanese companies in the process to be compliant in the ISO 9001 quality management system.
Looking ahead, Routledge emphasized the importance of the timely approvals for future development projects like Payara, noting, “continual development of projects will help further progress local content and provide opportunities and confidence to the local business community, which will lead to additional opportunities for workers and continued capacity building.”
In addition to local content efforts, ExxonMobil Guyana continued to support activities across the country, contributing more than GYD$80 million to education, women and community empowerment, and environmental sustainability programmes in the first half of 2020.
