Canada’s High Commissioner to Guyana, David Devine, and Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environ-ment, Omkar Lochan, recently led a high level team of industry and government leaders from Guyana at the Newfoundland Offshore Industries Association Con-ference in Atlantic Canada.
The Guyana delegation attended the conference which ran from June 18th – 22nd to start the process of building the capacities that will be needed to effectively service Guyana’s promising hydrocarbons sector, according to a press release from the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Industry leaders on the team included chairman and vice-chairman respectively of the Beharry Group of Companies, Anand Beharry and Suresh Beharry; John Lewis, Managing Director of Guyana Logistics and Support Services (GLASS); John Chin, Operations Director, Mings Products and Services; Managing Director of Farfan and Mendes, Andrew Mendes; Nigel Hughes, Senior Partner Hughes Fields and Stoby, and a team of senior representatives from CGX, including Administra-tion Manager Tarachandra Khellawan, Mike Stockinger, Chief Operating Officer and Chairman of CGX Energy, Dr. Suresh Narine.
The release said that the Guyana delegation created quite a buzz among the 1200 plus NOIA conference delegates, meeting with key industry and government representatives including the Deputy Minister of Energy, Diana Dalton, Mayor of St. John’s, Dennis O’Keefe, President of NOIA Bob Cadigan, Chairman of the Canada Newfoundland and Labrador offshore petroleum board, Max Ruelokke and other senior officials.
Other countries attending the NOIA Conference included Greenland, Iceland, the United States, Mexico and the Netherlands among others.
The Guyana team at the NOIA conference took the first steps to build the necessary knowledge base that will be required to service and supply Guyana’s burgeoning oil and gas sector.
During the conference week of activities, the delegation took the opportunity to interact, learn from and network with top industry leaders operating in Atlantic Canada.
The Guyana delegation was keen on garnering meaningful information on the major projects such as Hibernia, Hebron and White Rose to understand how they contributed to the positive economic and social changes in Atlantic Canada, with a view to projecting how Guyana will benefit from its own industry.
The NOIA conference is the largest oil and gas conference in Atlantic Canada and the regional industry leaders were open to sharing critical lessons learnt with the delegation to help Guyana to develop its own hydrocarbons industry.
As part of the visit to NOIA 2012 the Guyana delegates attended technical presentations, networking events and toured Atlantic Canada’s premier marine facilities, including the Marine Institute offshore Safety and Survival center, Harvey’s Marine Base, the Petroleum Trade Show and the College of the North Atlantic Seal Cove Campus, where specialized educational training for the oil and gas industry is conducted.
This is the first joint initiative undertaken by both the industry and Government of Guyana to begin the steps necessary to prepare for an oil and gas industry, the release added.
