Ghana begins helping to tweak Guyana’s draft local content law

Last Updated on Wednesday, 3 November 2021, 23:00 by Denis Chabrol

Guyana has decided to include aspects of the local content laws from Ghana, Nigeria and Norway in its draft legislations, the Attorney General’s Chambers said in a statement.

The decisions were made on Wednesday when a high-level delegation from Ghana on Wednesday joined a team of lawyers from the Attorney General’s Chambers in evaluating Guyana’s draft local content legislation, Attorney General Anil Nandlall said.

“The visiting delegation offered practical guidance as well as insightful recommendations. Various components of the Bill were discussed and critically examined with segments from the various legislations extracted and made part of the local Bill”, the office of the Attorney General said.

In a statement, the Chambers said after concluding a meeting with the technical staff at the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE), the delegation from Ghana, comprising of Mr. Benjamin Asante, CEO, Ghana National Gas Company, Mr. Kwaku Boateng, Director of Local Content, Petroleum Commission and Mr. Abraham Mensah, Snr. Technical Manager, Ghana National Gas Company met with the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Mohabir Anil Nandlall SC MP and a team of lawyers at the Attorney General’s Chambers. Honourable Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Mr. Vickram Bharrat and a technical team from his Ministry also attended the meeting.

A local legal committee was established by the Attorney General comprising of lawyers and drafters from the Attorney General’s Chambers, persons from the Environmental Protection Agency and officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources. “This team will spearhead Guyana’s pursuit of legislative changes in the oil and gas sector. It was agreed that this team and the visiting delegation will continue to collaborate and work closely in helping to develop a modern and effective Local Content Bill and will continue to collaborate on other matters relating to the legislative infrastructure of the oil and gas industry,” they said.

Upon the request of the Attorney General, the Ghanaian delegation promised to send academic writings as well as court rulings on their legislation which will be used to guide Guyana’s efforts.

Also present at today’s meeting were Mr. G. Bobby Gossai Jr., Snr. Petroleum Coordinator, Mr. Martin Pertab, Snr. Petroleum Economist, Ms. Joanna Simmons, Snr. Legal Coordinator, Mr. Visal Satram, Legal Officer and Mr. Michael Munroe, Legal Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment as well as members of the Oil and Gas sub-committee at the Chambers of the Attorney General which comprises of Ms. Ronetta Sargent, Ms. Arti Outar, Ms. Janet Ali, Ms. Ayana Fable and Ms. Debra Singh.