Guyana has so far benefitted from more than $15.6 Billion (US$75M) directly from the oil and gas sector, according to Director of the Energy Department Dr. Mark Bynoe.
In his address to residents of the Albouystown community on the oil and gas sector, at the Heavenly Light World Outreach Centre, on March 23, Dr Bynoe said this money does not include downstream impacts of the industry such as works in mechanics, electrical work, welding and technical warehousing, among others.
As such, he urged the residents to position themselves to benefit from the indirect benefits of the sector, while at the same time, assisting in transforming the economy.
“…The sector employs a fairly small number of persons because most of it is highly mechanised. What we should be training ourselves for, is the expansion of the investment that is coming and that has already started as well as the new Guyana that is to come” Dr. Bynoe stated.
He explained that skills building and certification are necessary, noting that the Department of Energy is “more than willing to work with any institution to create that opportunity for more of our Guyanese people not just to be aware but to build the requisite capacity going forward.”
Currently, 54 percent of the persons directly employed in the oil and gas sector are Guyanese. By the year 2020, the target of the Department of Energy is to have that number increased to 75 percent or greater.
The Department of Energy has been hosting sensitisation sessions across the country to educate, inform and prepare citizens for the production of oil in 2020. (Extracted and modified from Department of Public Information)
