At the end of June 2021, a total of 2,865 Guyanese have been supporting the activities of oil giant ExxonMobil Guyana, an increase of 795 Guyanese from June 2020.
This is according to information provided in a press release from the company, which was quoting figures from ExxonMobil Guyana’s Half Year 2021 report. This report was recently submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“As of June 2021, 2,865 Guyanese were supporting the company’s overall activities, representing 53 per cent of the total workforce.
“The Guyanese workforce grew by 38% to 2,865 at the end of June 2021 from 2,070 in June 2020 – and includes 568 women,” the release stated.
For clarity, ExxonMobil’s Government and Public Affairs Advisor, Janelle Persaud explained that the 2,865 Guyanese, who have been described as comprising the Guyanese workforce, are Guyanese who support the company’s “overall activities”. That is, these are employees drawn from both the oil company and its contractors.
These contractors are those companies that provide support services to the oil company’s oil exploration and production efforts. And, in its release, ExxonMobil Guyana said that more than 2,800 Guyanese represent 53 per cent of the total workforce.
When asked for a specific breakdown of the number of Guyanese employees directly employed by ExxonMobil Guyana, however, Persaud related that there are 72 Guyanese out of a total of 159 employees.
Meanwhile, it was stated that more than 82,000 hours of training were provided to Guyanese staff working on ExxonMobil Guyana activities. A majority of this training – over 85 per cent – were in Professional, Technical and Craft, and Trade training areas.
Importantly, it was also highlighted that during the first half of 2021, the company and its contractors spent nearly $19 billion on goods and services from more than 750 Guyanese vendors.
According to the company, this expenditure has generated, either directly or indirectly, an economic impact of $23.1 billion. And, since 2015, a total of $96.4 billion has been spent directly with Guyanese suppliers.
The company also noted that outreach to local businesses continued through the Centre for Local Business Development. Therein, 141 electronic tender notifications were issued to over 3,000 Guyanese companies and mentoring seven Guyanese companies to be compliant with ISO9001.
ISO 9001 is the world’s most recognised Quality Management System (QMS) standard. It aims to help organisations meet the needs of their customers and other stakeholders more effectively.
In a video statement accompanying the release, Alistair Routledge, ExxonMobil Guyana President, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to working with the government to support the development of a framework that manages local content in a “realistic and sustainable” way.
“We are proud to have been able to deliver these local content statistics which are a reflection of collaboration among all stakeholders.
“Further growth is expected and ExxonMobil will continue to work with Guyanese businesses to build local content together,” Routledge stated.
Meanwhile, he also noted that timely approvals and processes related to Exxon’s work in the development of Guyana’s oil and gas industry are vital to local content development
Already, there have been three sanctioned projects in Liza Phase 1, Phase 2 and Payara; a fourth project, Yellowtail is up for approval.
“It is important to identify and invest in successive projects that allow for the expansion of efficient operations to provide sustainable employment opportunities, local business growth and broader economic development across Guyana,” the company’s president added.
