Every oil company should have locals in managerial positions – GCCI
(Guyana Times) The need for locals to be hired in senior, managerial positions by international oil companies drilling for oil offshore Guyana was emphasised by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), in a position paper on Guyana’s Local Content Policy.
The third draft local content policy was recently released, with the objective of garnering the views of stakeholders. The GCCI, in its examination of the policy, found several shortcomings in the document.
According to the Chamber, no less than five Guyanese should hold managerial positions within oil companies. The international oil industry is no stranger to such arrangements, with some of the very companies exploring for oil offshore Guyana practising this measure in other countries they operate in.
As a way of monitoring these companies and their local content commitments, GCCI recommended that quarterly reports be submitted by oil companies that contain details on their hiring practices.
“The quarterly report should state the number of new Guyanese employees employed during the respective quarter and their job descriptions,” GCCI recommended. “Where Guyanese are not employed because of lack of expertise, the contractor, subcontractor, licensee or other allied entity shall ensure, to the satisfaction of the Commission that every reasonable effort is made to provide training to Guyanese in that field locally or elsewhere.”
When it comes to the human development side of local content, GCCI noted that the policy must ensure that there is a link with the pre-existing national development strategy that addresses certifications and skills transferal.
According to GCCI, the policy should address “the University of Guyana or an Institute in the University being a body to run courses and certification with link to international bodies which perform certification of workers for oil industry.”
“A deliberate and explicit plan for skill transferal and development of the indigenous capacity needs to be articulated in the Local Content Policy. There are skills in the O&G industry which can only be acquired via (hands-on learning),” GCCI also said. In May of this year, El Dorado Offshore and Ramps Logistics had partnered with US oil giant ExxonMobil to recruit 12 rig clerk trainees for the emergent oil and gas industry. Recruitment Director Natasha Jairam-Abai had explained that this was the third batch of individuals to benefit from this type of training, but this year, the number of women increased. It was announced that the candidates would undergo 10 weeks of training, both theoretical and practical, at four different locations and that, from Guyana, they would move to Trinidad and Tobago and one of the drillships as part of the exercise to forge their skills in all areas.
El Dorado Offshore sent its first batch of recruits back in 2017, in an effort to meet the human resources demands of the oil industry. Presently, it has deployed a number of persons to serve the industry. Some are stationed right here in Guyana while others were placed on supply vessels as well as in countries as far as Singapore. Not much data exists, however, to illustrate exactly how many persons have been taken on in senior capacities. At present, programmes at the University of Guyana have been revamped to include undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the oil sector.
