Govt. stands against local content targets “plagiarism”
– Guyanese want to think of “realistic” ones in the absence of study
By Kiana Wilburg
Kaieteur News – Following independent research, Kaieteur News revealed on Sunday that the targets proposed by the Ministry of Natural Resources (NRM) in the draft Local Content Policy, were not informed by gap analysis. Instead, most of the targets, including incorrectly spelled work category, were plagiarized from the Ghana Local Content Regulations.
In a press mission, the Ministry sought to defend the plagiarism of targets created for an African country with 30.42 million people. The Ministry said it is essential, for one to be aware that the upstream oil and gas sector has a specific language that reflects certain standardized characteristics and pre-defined roles common across the industry all over the world. He said, “While the sector is new to Guyana, the Ministry believes it is prudent not to re-invent the wheel and further complicate the description of these services. For clarity and therefore, ensuring compliance and reducing gaps in our local content regulations, job descriptions and services must be bellucid and unambiguous. Therefore, to ensure that the latter is reached, the language must be kept constant. ”
Even if this is the case, the Ministry still failed to say why it had copied categories of works / services to be supplied to the oil industry in the exact order as listed in the Ghana regulations, along the exact target numbers for starting a business, and even spelling. errors. In Sunday’s Kaieteur News publication on this issue, it was revealed that the Ghana Regulations contained an error under the category of Marine Operations and Logistics Services. The document states that Ghanaians should be able to supply “Driving” or ROV or underwater operations. Instead of “Driving,” it’s supposed to be “Diving.” (ROV stands for remotely operated vehicle. This equipment is a type of underwater robot and is in some cases accompanied by a plumber.)
With regard to the suitability of certain categories of work for Guyana, it should be noted that many questioned the appropriateness of some areas copied from Ghana without considering the vision or needs of Guyana’s industry. One case highlighted during the first round of discussions held at the Arthur Chung Convention Center was the plagiarism category of steel plates. The draft document proposes that this should be provided by local people only in 10 years time. This was highlighted by Guyana’s Head of ExxonMobil, Alistair Routledge, who queried how this would be possible when Guyana is not a steel producer. During that exact discussion, the Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, said the category and targets were “drawn from somewhere.”
Kaieteur News also found other areas of work that may not be appropriate or appropriate for Guyana, including Log on drill (LWD), Production or drilling service, Seismic 3D data acquisition services, good overhaul or trigger services, crisis management services Well, and extended Good testing or early production services including the provision of a floating or production unit. Also listed are services relating to submarine package installation, reservoir services, mooring system services, circulation and commissioning of marine installation services, the provision of floating storage units, and the supply of Glass reinforced epoxy (GRE) pipe.
In its response, NRM stated that, “in the interest of time and urgency to have a robust local content policy in place, which would then act as the primary driver of the legislative framework, the Ministry has chosen the wide-ranging consultation process. . “In addition, the Ministry said,” The idea is for stakeholders to set realistic and pragmatic targets. To date, this consultation process is continuing … ”
Interestingly, the Ministry is hopeful that in the absence of a needs assessment, Guyanese would be able to set realistic targets. Such a study would provide critical data on the requirements of the oil industry in a five-year period, the human resources needed locally to fill the gap, and the cost to do this.
While acknowledging that the above assessment was crucial in creating the local content policy and was not made, the Ministry still claimed, “The Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Natural Resources has worked with international and local professionals to create ‘ r include the policy and establish realistic and achievable targets, over the different development phases for the petroleum and sub-sectors. These targets have been set from the current trend of development in Guyana and projects from similar economies that have set a path of local content benefits over varying periods of time. ”No evidence was provided to support this. Furthermore, Dr. Jagdeo said during the first round of consultations that the targets had been removed from somewhere.
Furthermore, Kaieteur News had revealed that, in Guyana’s draft policy, the government should propose in the initial years, that Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for the offshore, offshore, Liquified Natural gas facility, and Precision engineered gas collection facilities see 20 percent, 10 percent consumption, 10 percent, and 20 percent Guyanese respectively. The Ghana regulations have exactly the same words and numbers. The Ministry of Natural Resources did not explain why the “international professionals” it consulted provided the same targets as those in the Ghana Regulations for Guyana with a population of less than 800,000 people.
Although the Ministry of Natural Resources has copied all the categories of work from the Ghana regulations and increased target numbers in some areas, it is essential to note that these specified targets were not part of the recommendations of the Local Content Panel. That body was appointed in August 2020 by President Irfaan Ali. The panel consisted of Guyana Border Councilor Carl Greenidge; Trinidadian expert, Anthony Paul; Businessman and Panel Chairman, Shyam Nokta; Certified Fraud Examiner, Floyd Haynes; former Chair of the Public Services Commission (PSC), Carvil Duncan; and former TT Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine.
In the panel’s 35-page report, no specific targets were provided as it had no data to work with from gap analysis. The panel’s report simply recognizes that employment targets and some levels of procurement would be in the national interest.
The Ministry is still explaining why it has drawn up a draft policy that does not accord with the recommendations of the President’s Advisory Panel. Equally upsetting is the fact that its targets are not informed by independent experts’ assessments of the reality on the ground.