ExxonMobil’s Country Manager lies to Parliamentary Committee

All of the companies on the “list” are owned by Guyanese. This is what ExxonMobil’s Country Manager, Rod Henson recently declared when he appeared before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources. A few weeks ago, ExxonMobil released a list of 228 companies that it conducted business with. The list was released as proof of the companies’ local content efforts. The list quickly became controversial as names of companies appeared twice. Names of individuals also appeared on the list. In fact, even Bourda Market made the list. APNU Parlimentarian Audwin Rutherford had asked, “How many of these companies are actually owned by Guyanese. Because we know that some of these are foreign companies registered here. “Henson had responded: “Those are not foreign companies that are registered here. Those are all Guyanese owned companies, again, some small, many large but…what we are submitting is a list of all the Guyanese companies we worked with. That’s what we did.” However, checks at the Deeds Registry have proven that the information Henson provided was not accurate. While some of the companies on the list are indeed owned by Guyanese, a few are foreign owned, which have branches registered here. This means companies that existed before their operation in Guyana. And, some of the companies are those indigenous to Guyana but were set up by foreigners. For instance, Assuria Life (Gy) Inc. is registered as a local company but its owners are Surinamese. JSL International Guyana Inc. is registered as a local company but it is owned by Trinidadians. Also Eldorado Offshore is listed as a local company but is also owned by Trinidadians. This company is a subsidiary of Ramps Logistics, which is one of ExxonMobil’s main contractors. While Rutherford’s contention was about the companies being wholly local, his colleague MP, Jermaine Figueira wanted to focus on Exxon’s approach to Local Content. “We have our own definition of local content.” That is what officials of ExxonMobil have been saying when confronted about its local content efforts in Guyana.

The company stuck to this story even after it was pointed out that its global stance for local content is different. When he appeared before the Committee, Henson maintained this position after he was faced with a barrage of questions. He said, “Well, we have our own definition of Local Content.”But that sort of response did not sit well with Figueira, a Government MP. He thinks that ExxonMobil has no place defining local content or deciding what form local content will take. Figueira said: “I believe the local content, which ExxonMobil will be implementing should be guided by a framework that is heavily influenced by the government.” “Your local content strategy should be of an indigenous nature to the Guyanese population. It should reflect the desire of the masses after they are properly informed.” Figueira stressed, “I really do not believe that you should lead the way in respect to local content, it has to be the other way around, Guyanese should have a greater say.” (Kaieteur News)