Country Director of the ExxonMobil Corporation Jeff Simons on Wednesday indicated that there would be greater involvement of locals in its operations as the company moves forward.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, Simons said the company always works to maximise local participation wherever it is located around the world and it would be the same in Guyana. He said that in drilling the first well, Liza-1, there was not a lot of local participation but as they moved to the second well, Liza-2, this has been improved significantly and all of the supplies, including transportation and security, are being provided locally and this will be expanded as the company moves forward.
He pointed out that company is presently running a drilling rig that would be here for the foreseeable future. “The next step is when we get to actually putting that big ship out there in the water and getting a production operation that really takes it to a different level when we are having…fifty to a hundred people out on the ship…,” Simons said, while noting that there are already some Guyanese employed by the company.