While the Local Content Law has enabled Guyanese to play a meaningful role in the development of the oil and gas sector, citizens are poised to assume even greater leadership roles through the Guyana Technical Training College and the imminent Guyana Development Bank. This is according to Director of the Vreed-en-Hoop Shore Base Inc., Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer.
During his appearance on the Starting Point Podcast, the businessman noted that the training college will be crucial to building capacity in deep-sea drilling skills that will be needed as Guyana advances its ambition to have seven oil projects in operation by 2030.
“For each floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the population on board is around 200 plus, and they can’t stay there for 12 months of the year. So you must have a sort of change-out crew. So, you know, a crew may work one month, and then they get a month off. So that means in maybe a two-month period, you have to have 400 people to staff a vessel,” said Deygoo-Boyer.
With the training college, he said Guyana is ensuring that its citizens are strategically positioned for these jobs while securing international certification in their home country.
While the training college is set to boost employment of Guyanese in the sector, the private sector stalwart pointed to the impending impact of the Guyana Development Bank. This initiative he underscored will empower Guyanese with the capital needed to integrate into the supply chain for the oil sector.
“The unfortunate thing is that when you’re an entrepreneur and you have a great idea, it’s very hard to get a traditional bank to back a startup company or lend to a startup company because you don’t have the information that fits their model,” the businessman said.
Deygoo-Boyer said the imminent development bank stands out as an effective means of helping budding entrepreneurs overcome such hurdles and realise their dreams. Taken together, he said, the training institute and the bank are sure to position more Guyanese for leading roles in the oil and gas sector and further afield.