Law empowers Local Content Secretariat to have unrestricted access to oil companies’ facilities, records, & reports

Oct 15, 2022 News

OIL SERIES PT 9

By Kiana Wilburg

Kaieteur News – According to Guyana’s Local Content Legislation, officials attached to the Local Content Secretariat or a representative of that body can have unrestricted access to a contractor, subcontractor or licensee’s facilities, records, reports, documents, data, and information. Such access is allowed for the purposes of monitoring, assessing, evaluating, investigating, auditing, and verifying compliance with the Act.

The law also empowers the Secretariat to develop and maintain measures for the effective implementation of local content by contractors, sub-contractors and licensees.

The Secretariat can also develop and implement strategies that give preference to, or ensure equal treatment of Guyanese nationals and Guyanese companies as well as conduct market analysis and make recommendations to the minister.

Background

The Government of Guyana has solidified its commitment to ensuring that the benefits derived from the foreign direct investments into Guyana’s petroleum sector are captured and retained in-country, through the enactment of the Local Content Act.

The law prioritises Guyanese nationals and Guyanese companies in the procurement of goods and services for the enhancement of the value chain of the sector.

The Act also serves to enable local capacity development and provides for the investigation, supervision, coordination monitoring, and evaluation of, and participation in, local content in Guyana.

The Local Content Secretariat is mandated to ensure that the provisions of the Act are implemented. It functions as the focal point for the monitoring, evaluation, coordination, and reporting of local content in the petroleum operations of Guyana.

In so far as the Act mandates every Contractor, Sub-Contractor, or Licensee to implement local content as an essential component of their petroleum operations, the Secretariat, through the issuance of industry guidelines, aims to provide detailed and specific guidance to Contractors, Sub-Contractors, or Licensees with regards to their reporting obligations.

The Act obligates Contractors, Sub-Contractors, or Licensees to submit a local content report to the Secretariat, within 30 days after the end of each half calendar year, which is referred to as the Local Content Half-Yearly Report.

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