French oil and gas company, Bourbon Marine & Logistics, on Monday announced that it had entered in a joint venture with the Guyanese company, Tethys Marine & Logistics, to form Bourbon Guyana, and that 75 per cent of its directors would be locals.
“Bourbon Marine & Logistics is pleased to announce its partnership with the Guyanese company Tethys Marine & Logistics, which becomes a 51% shareholder of the Bourbon Guyana Joint Venture. With 75% Guyanese Directors, Bourbon Guyana thus becomes the first indigenous Offshore Support Vessels operator, fully compliant with the most recent local content regulations,” the company said in a statement.
The financial investments in the partnership agreement were not made public nor did the company say where their office would be based.
“With a fleet of 6 vessels (Large PSV, AHTS & Tugs) and the full range of marine services, Bourbon Guyana has operated in the country since 2019 and has since then successfully supported ExxonMobil Guyana and Saipem Guyana for the development of Stabroek field, promoting local employment with more than 70 Guyanese seafarers onboard its vessels,” the statement added.
The company quoted its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rodolphe Bouchet as welcoming the deal and underscoring the importance of local content. “The partnership with Tethys Marine & Logistics represents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen our current position in Guyana. Through this operation, Bourbon becomes a ‘Guyanese’ company in country with a local majority shareholder. This is a very important aspect for us, as we always want to include local content in the territories in which we are present.”
Tethys Marine & Logistics CEO Jaikerran Persaud, was quoted as saying, “We share the same culture with Bourbon and our visions for the future of the industry in Guyana are aligned. It is very important for Bourbon Guyana to consolidate its leadership position in this promising territory.”
Guyana’s local content register lists Tethys Marine & Logistics’ registration number as LCSR-549e3ee4 with its address at Lot 78 Hadfield & Breda streets, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, Guyana.
Bourbon says that is a market leader in offshore marine services. “Bourbon offers the most demanding offshore energy operators a broad range of surface and subsea marine services for oil & gas fields and wind farms. These services rely on a modern & standardized fleet of 285 vessels and on the skills of 6,300 highly qualified professionals. Constantly striving for operational excellence, the group provides a local service for customers in more than 30 countries in which it operates, guaranteeing the very highest standards of quality and safety. Bourbon has three operating activities (Marine & Logistics, Mobility and Subsea Services).”
Guyana’s local content regulator, the Local Content Secretariat, has said that it issued some 354 Local Content Certificates to Guyanese suppliers as of November last year.
The Ministry of Natural Resources disclosed that its internal assessments show that certified Guyanese companies supplied goods and services, valued above a preliminary estimate of $129 billion, across 37 of the 40 areas ring-fenced for nationals in the First Schedule of the Local Content Act.
Director of the Secretariat, Martin Pertab, noted that this preliminary assessment represents 23 per cent of Guyana’s $552.9 billion budget for 2022. In the release, a breakdown of sectors and sub-sectors are enclosed but neither the ministry nor the secretariat provide any data on a breakdown of the 354 certificates with the list provided.
The ministry says that a Guyanese national or Guyanese company issued a certificate by the Secretariat receives preferential treatment in the award of contracts by the oil companies and their sub-contractors. This document provides confirmation that the Secretariat is satisfied that the holder of the certificate is a Guyanese national and/or satisfies its criteria that the company is Guyanese owned. It added in its release that oil companies and their sub-contractors are more incentivized to utilise vendors who are approved by the Secretariat.
Regarding registration with the Secretariat of locally owned companies, the release stated that suppliers are asked to submit certain crucial documents, depending on the type of proprietorship. Once those necessary documents have been lodged, the applications go through a rigorous screening process by the Secretariat’s Registration Unit. This firm system, the release says, is designed to filter out companies intent on circumventing the spirit of the law. Registration by the Secretariat is free of cost, it also stated.
