Guyana is considering the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund as part of its strategy to manage revenues that could accrue from its oil and gas potential.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment recently engaged the Bureau of Energy Resources of the US Department of State to further assist Guyana in the development of its technical capacity in the oil and gas sector.
A release from the Ministry said that Minister Robert Persaud met Bureau representatives Director Paul F Hueper and Deputy Director, Nicole Gibson of the Office of Energy Programs in this endeavour. He informed the meeting that Guyana has been working with the US Department of State since 2010 on human resources development for the potential hydrocarbon sector, through various workshops and seminars.
“The Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative (EGCI) can assist in determining the best governance option for Guyana. The ideal situation is to govern by (legislation) where petroleum revenues are separate and not available for normal usages,” he said. Government is “currently seeking to undertake a study which will inform the best model for the development of a sovereign wealth fund type system.”
According to Persaud, the first step must be to develop the governance and regulatory framework which will support the growth of the sector in the long term. He also pointed out that every country must have its own model for the development and management of this sector. “The ECGI will work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission on the implementation mechanism for addressing the various issues of capacity development. The fields of work will be in drill well in deep-water areas and well test evaluation (productivity test) which will continue into the second half of 2015.”
The EGCI is a US Department of State led interagency effort to provide a wide range of technical and capacity building assistance to the host governments of select countries that are expected to become the world’s next generation of oil and gas producers. The countries receiving EGCI assistance have world class hydrocarbon resource potential and expect to receive sizable, near term financial windfalls from the development of their oil and gas resources. “EGCI’s core objective is to help these countries establish the capacity to manage their oil and gas sector resources responsibly,” the statement said.
