As one of the world’s leading energy supermajors accelerates its expansion of oil and gas production in Guyana, ExxonMobil is confronting a pressing skilled labor shortage that threatens its growth trajectory — and the country’s long-term economic health. To tackle this challenge, the company has funded a comprehensive industrial baseline study of Guyana’s skilled professional workforce, Alistair Routledge, president of ExxonMobil Guyana, announced Wednesday.
Slated for completion by the end of 2024, the study is designed to address two core priorities, Routledge explained at a ceremony marking the handover of approval letters for the company’s local content development plans. First, it will map the current status of Guyana’s existing workforce capacity, and assess the ability of local educational institutions to expand training programs that boost the nation’s skilled labor pool. Second, it will forecast future labor demand not only for the fast-growing oil and gas sector, but across all segments of Guyana’s domestic economy.
This cross-sector demand analysis is a critical step to avoiding the so-called ‘Dutch Disease’, a well-documented economic phenomenon where rapid expansion of a single dominant resource sector siphons skilled labor and capital away from other domestic industries, eroding long-term economic stability. “That aspect would be critical to understand in order to avoid [this outcome],” Routledge noted.
Routledge emphasized that the country’s education sector will be an indispensable partner in expanding local skilled labor capacity, confirming that the oil and gas industry is already facing a widening gap in available skilled workers. “It’s a common feeling that we are finding it harder and harder to find additional Guyanese workers, and especially the continued challenge of raising the education levels, the skill levels for an industry that is highly demanding on quality and expertise,” he said.
Despite the current shortage, the company shared positive data on its existing local hiring progress. As of December 31, 2025, Guyanese nationals make up 68 percent of the total oil sector workforce covered by the company’s local content commitments, with one-third of that local workforce identifying as women. Within ExxonMobil’s own direct workforce in the country, women account for more than 50 percent of staff. The company also confirmed that 1,800 Guyanese workers are currently employed in offshore oil operations, many of whom have completed advanced, high-level skills training at international facilities.
Unlike oil field service contractors including SBM Offshore, SAIPEM and Baker Hughes, ExxonMobil maintains a smaller direct field workforce, but Routledge said the hiring data proves there is no shortage of willing local workers ready to join the growing sector. “What we need to do collectively is to raise the capacity, the capability but also make the workforce enabling and welcoming for everybody in the country,” he added.