Approximately 9,000 people are now employed in Guyana’s oil and gas sector, with roughly 70% of them being Guyanese, Alistair Routledge disclosed during a recent media session.
The 70% represents approximately 6,300 local workers, including around 300 who are relatively new to the industry, Routledge revealed, speaking from the company’s Ogle headquarters.
He noted that the increasing percentage of Guyanese in the workforce reflects significant investment by the company. “It reflects the level of investment that companies like ExxonMobil, but also our prime contractors, and also local companies are making to invest in their people, giving people the opportunity to take more and more senior, more complex roles and to ultimately be better paid.”
Routledge also shone a light on local content in the sector. “Local content, as I’ve said before, [is] absolutely fundamental, that we not only deliver money into a natural resource fund through the revenues that are generated, but in the process of developing the nation’s resources, that we deliver as much benefit to people through jobs and business opportunities as we possibly can.”
The ExxonMobil President revealed that in 2025, approximately 2,000 suppliers were involved through the supply chain supporting the company’s operations. “We spent around $146 billion Guyana dollars with those 2,000,” he said, adding, “Since 2015, the cumulative total spend with local businesses is now estimated to be $753 billion Guyana dollars.”
ExxonMobil local content payments hit US$3.6B overall; US$700M in 2025 alone – Routledge OilNOW
He also pointed to the capacity building efforts that have been undertaken. “This facility, the GTTCI [Guyana Technical Training College Inc.], will support the development of Guyanese and indeed, other people coming from overseas to the highest international levels, with an international accreditation.”
GTTCI opened doors in February this year, aiming to prepare Guyanese technicians for jobs in the country’s growing oil and gas industry. The training institute delivers specialized technical education aligned with offshore petroleum operations, supporting the country’s local workforce development strategy.
