Proposed amendments to Guyana’s Local Content Act are awaiting policy-level consideration, following a broad stakeholder consultation process that included ExxonMobil Guyana and major oil and gas contractors, according to Director of the Local Content Secretariat, Michael Munroe.
Speaking exclusively with OilNOW this week, Munroe said the Secretariat has already reviewed and consolidated submissions received from industry stakeholders, following five years of the Act’s implementation.
The compiled document has since been submitted to Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat for onward consideration at the Cabinet level.
“We went out to all stakeholders, including Exxon, to say, ‘hey, based on your five years experience you’ve had with the Local Content Act, what proposals do you have in terms of making the Act better’,” Munroe said.
In November 2025, the Local Content Secretariat had flagged more than 20 additional areas that could be added to the first schedule of Guyana’s Local Content Act.
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Munroe explained that stakeholders, including the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), MODEC, SBM Offshore, and the Private Sector Commission, were also asked to identify areas where greater participation by Guyanese could be achieved across the oil and gas value chain.
“Those submissions came in November, and we have already reviewed and aggregated the submissions that came in from those companies. That is now before the Minister of Natural Resources to take to the Cabinet, to His Excellency and the Vice President. Once that conversation is at the policy level, then we will engage the stakeholders to say, ‘hey, we have considered all of the submissions, and this is what we are looking to go with’,” the Director said.
Munroe further explained that while the Secretariat has completed its technical work, the next steps depend on policy deliberations at the highest level of government.
“We think we are best positioned to analyze the general sentiment on the ground, based on the wide array of interest that we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve had from the contractor side, and we’ve also had from the private sector side.”
Once Cabinet-level discussions are completed, Munroe said the government will move to renew consultations followed by the formal legislative process to amend the Act.
In 2021, with the passage of the Local Content Act, the government of Guyana established 40 service areas in the oil and gas sector, reserved for Guyanese business participation. Under this legislation, oil companies must procure services from local providers to varying degrees.
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However, to benefit from these opportunities, businesses must first obtain a Local Content Certificate from the Secretariat. Without this certification, Guyanese-owned companies are not eligible to access contracts in these protected service areas.
Established in 2022, the Secretariat was put in place to manage the Local Content Register for businesses and professionals to advertise their services. As of November 2024, 1032 companies had been certified and were listed on the Local Content Register, confirming their eligibility to supply goods and services to the sector.
