Government is working assiduously to ensure that local businesses can take advantage of the opportunities that will be made available in the emerging offshore oil and gas, and renewable energy sectors in Barbados. And, officials of the Ministry of Energy and Business and the Commonwealth Secretariat’s consultants for the one-year Barbados Energy Local Content Development Project have been working together to identify gaps and ascertain what systems should be put in place to address them.
The Barbados Energy Local Content Development Project is aimed at progressively increasing access to, and participation of local vendors and businesses in the energy industry value chain.
Legal Advisor in the Natural Resources Section of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Chilenye Nwapi, underscored the importance of local content, saying it emphasises the development of local skills, technology transfer, employment creation for citizens, as well as local procurement of goods and services.
“Energy local content is a vital instrument for maximising the benefits of energy resource developments. Barbados is rich in energy resources, both renewable and oil and gas, and so it’s going to benefit Barbadians hugely.
“It can facilitate the participation of Barbadians in national economic activities, especially with regard to the energy sector, enabling businesses to build their capacity to compete for opportunities in Barbados, but also internationally. It will also help to create employment for many Barbadians, thereby helping to address issues of poverty and livelihood in Barbados,” Mr. Nwapi said.
He noted that the project was at the stage of stakeholder consultations and data collection, as he emphasised that reliable data was important to the success of local content.
“In fact, most local content for regimes around the world that have failed to achieve expected goals, failed mainly because they were not built on reliable data, especially about available skills and the skills gap that exists. So that is why it is important to, first of all, collect data that will guide the development of local content,” he explained.
Mr. Nwapi stated that the stakeholders had responded positively to the engagements, which started in June. Outlining the way forward, he said further workshops would be held with stakeholders to deepen the understanding of the situation in Barbados, hear their perspectives, and also collect more data that would be used to prepare the final report for the project.
Chief Project Analyst in the Research and Planning Unit of the Ministry of Energy, Bryan Haynes, said two types of revenue streams would emerge from the oil and gas, and energy sectors. In the case of oil and gas, he explained that revenue would be procured through royalties and taxes.
“The Barbados Energy Local Content Development Project is aimed at progressively increasing access to, and participation of local vendors and businesses in the energy industry value chain.”
“On the other side of the equation, the companies will be spending, in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars to procure goods and services. It is that additional stream of income we want to tap into to ensure local businesses are able to access it, and create the diversity within the economy that we really need at this juncture and in the future. So primarily, we are seeing two opportunities that we must work on as early as possible…,” he stated.
Mr. Haynes also emphasised the usefulness of the Barbados Energy Local Content Development Project, saying it would highlight a wide range of employment opportunities for Barbadians. He listed them as including engineering, accommodation, catering, finance, law, mechanics, and electrical technicians.
“This project is going to tool persons to world-class standards so their skills are exportable. They will no longer have to only operate within these 166 square miles, but have the opportunity to take their skills across the Caribbean in case of renewable energy, and further afield in the case of oil and gas.
“In the area of renewable energy, there has been a lot of work but we are looking now to see where we can increase those skill sets and to make sure that we bring them up to the level that Barbadians are ready to get into any area with any person around the world. So, there’s a significant area of opportunity from very simple to get into skill sets, to the very highly technical areas,” Mr. Haynes explained.
He noted that a part of the consultants’ work was to identify the gaps, as he shared that the Ministry had already started conversations with institutions such as the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology and the Barbados Community College.
“We also want to have further discussions with The University of West Indies to ensure that they are putting the right curricula in place to make sure that we can bridge the gaps,” he added.
Stakeholders in the oil and gas or renewable energy sectors who want to know more about the Barbados Local Content Development Project should contact Alton Best at the Ministry of Energy at 535-2555, or alton.best@barbados.gov.bb.