The Guyana government says it will construct a multi-million dollar facility that will serve as a center to equip nationals with the expertise needed to work in the oil and gas sector.
“Right here at Port Mourant, there is going to be a massive facility for training Guyanese for the industry. This will be a US$120 million facility for training people to work in the industry,” Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo announced.
Jagdeo, addressing a ceremony observing the 25th anniversary of the death of former president Dr. Cheddi Jagan on Sunday, said that with the rapid development of the oil and gas sector, it is important that Guyanese take center stage and benefit.
Jagdeo said the Irfaan Ali administration has heard the calls for nationals to benefit more from the oil and gas sector and that while the country is in need of foreign investments and capital to develop the industry, Guyanese must not be left behind and must be in a position to get a fair share of the proceeds from the oil sector.
“We have traveled around the world, we have seen these countries, how the foreigners people of one color live in ethnic enclaves, we said not in Guyana, the laws now say that these foreign companies can only rent welding places from Guyanese so that Guyanese now has an opportunity to supply them, they can only rent transportation,” Jagdeo said.
He told the audience that Guyana has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from the sector and that more local companies and citizens stand to benefit more.
“Most importantly, we have passed a local content law, that has brought nearly $US700 million of business and business opportunities to Guyanese because we believe that this industry must work for our people too not the foreigners alone,” Jagdeo said.
By the end of 2022, Guyana was pumping an average of 360,000 barrels of oil per day and ranked 17th globally by oil reserves. The US-based oil giant, ExxonMobil’s oil production in Guyana is expected to reach 750 thousand barrels per day by 2026.
CMC/
