Latest update April 18th, 2025 8:12 AM
Amended local content law to allow Guyanese to own supply vessels – Jagdeo
Kaieteur News- Guyanese will stand a better chance at owning supply vessels in the oil and gas sector when the government amends the Local Content Act, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said on Thursday.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo
The Vice President was at the time speaking at his weekly press conference held at Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown.
Kaieteur News asked him to state how locals can secure supply boat contracts and whether they have the option to bid.
In response, Jagdeo said that Guyanese can work together to form companies aimed at grabbing, among other things, supply vessels’ contracts, since it may be costly for one person to do so.
“We hope to amend the local content law to give more room for local ownership of supply vessels, but these supply vessels are very costly. You know, they run into millions of US dollars. So maybe it may be beyond the reach of an individual in Guyana to afford these vessels,” Jagdeo said.
He advised that it would be wise for partnerships to be fostered with overseas companies and a consortium of Guyanese companies to allow for more locals to invest in these high-value areas, ultimately bringing more value and income to them.
The VP explained, “once you get a contract there, it’s a long-term contract, and it’s predictable, and therefore you can make money on it. So, we hope in the future that the local content law can evolve to allow more room for Guyanese in these areas, like how we did with some other areas where we had 100%, you know, procurement from Guyanese companies.”
He admitted that they may not get to 100% locals in this area immediately but bigger shares of the supply boat contracts should go to the locals and this is the intent of the legislative amendments.
The Government of Guyana has been working for some time now to amend the local content laws to ensure that locals benefit more and to close loopholes that allow foreigners to cheat the system and benefit from policies specifically crafted for Guyanese.
On March 9, 2025, this publication reported that local companies have benefitted from the majority of the 2024 local content earnings. The Vice President assured that based on the earnings in the oil and gas sector, local businesses continue to benefit from the bulk of earnings.
He said that every effort is being made to protect Guyanese in accordance with the Local Content Act.
Jagdeo was asked by Kaieteur News whether the US$743M spent on local content last year was verified by the government and whether the bulk of it is in the pockets of locals rather than foreigners who use locals as fronts for their businesses.
“…right now, there’s $700M odd that you speak of. It’s a substantial sum of money, nearly $150 billion of procurement opportunities going to Guyanese companies,” the Vice President said.
He explained that while by definition and documentation presented, all of the companies are Guyanese, some may be local in theory but foreign in practice.
Jagdeo reminded that there is an ongoing investigation to identify such companies. He said that the government has identified loopholes being used by foreigners to circumvent the local content legislation.
“…but the bulk of the money would be mainly to our local companies, the bulk of it, and we’re very pleased that it happened because it is great opportunities,” he assured.
(Amended local content law to allow Guyanese to own supply vessels – Jagdeo)
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