Guyana Oil and Gas News

Dear Editor, Taxes are fundamental to developing the Western world’s prestigious institutions and first-class infrastructure.

Introduction In recent weeks my Sunday Stabroek columns have sought to demonstrate the reason why I have advanced the proposition that: a state-owned oil refinery makes no economic sense at this stage of Guyana’s evolving oil and gas sector and/or its economic development, more broadly.

Having long endured the stigma of being associated with one of the world’s worst man-made disasters, the March 24, 1989, oil spill during which its recovery ship, the Exxon Valdez, emptied  almost eleven million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, it has taken years for ExxonMobil, one of the world’s unquestioned oil exploration and recovery powerhouses to work its way back to some measure of global respectability as far as its global safety reputation is concerned; and while, even now, the jury is still out in some quarters on the environmental bona fides of the company, the reality is that the global significance of oil coupled with ExxonMobil’s credentials in what is arguably one of the world’s most critical economic sectors, means that whatever the purist perspective of the hard-core environmentalists, the company’s strategic importance to the overall well-being of the global oil and gas industry cannot be wished away.

The opposition PPP/C believes that the Guyana Office for Investment and Department of Energy sponsorship of the second annual Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit & Exhibition (GIPEX) is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars and is mulling protesting the event.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) has expressed disappointment at not being invited to a safety forum hosted here yesterday by the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago (ECTT), with some executives saying that it is tantamount to disrespect.

Dear Editor, Five years to 2025, according to the Hon. Minister of Finance. 

Veolia Water Technologies, through its subsidiary VWS Westgarth Ltd, has been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract by SBM Offshore for a seawater treatment package for the Liza Unity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana.

Local company GuyEnergy’s proposed modular oil refinery in Linden, Region 10, is slated to be completed next year and if the firm wants to purchase some of Guyana’s share of oil expected from the operations of ExxonMobil, it will have to pay “maximum value.”

President David Granger yesterday emphasised that Guyana must not only prepare for an oil economy but also prepare for the post-oil economy, which, he said, is expected to be fueled by agro-processing.

(Trinidad Guardian) New multi­na­tion­al cor­po­ra­tions will pre­fer to in­vest in Guyana rather than Trinidad & Tobago be­cause of poor reg­u­la­to­ry con­trols by the Min­istry of En­er­gy and lack of trans­paren­cy, says geo­physi­cist Javed Raza­ck.

USAID Farmer to Farmer Volunteer, Ohio State University Professor Melvin Pascall earlier this week told the Stabroek Business that the prospects for Guyana’s agro-processing sector on the international market depend heavily on the sector raising its game insofar as the packaging and labeling of its products is concerned.

Texila American Univer-sity (TAU) has moved to expand its curriculum base from its Providence, East Bank Demerara Campus in Guyana, with the launch of its Bachelor’s (BBA) and Masters’ (MBA) programmes in Business Administration.

Former Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Energy Kevin Ramnarine says that his country must position itself to be the logistics hub for Guyana’s booming oil sector and Private Sector Commission (PSC) head Gerry Gouveia says that politicians here have to unite to give Guyanese the tools to provide diverse services or watch the opportunities snatched by other countries.

President David Granger  says Guyana is keen on enhancing partnerships with experienced oil producers such as Qatar.

ExxonMobil Guyana recently updated the Region Two public on its operations and third proposed oil production project, Payara.

With significant revenues expected from imminent oil production, the Bank of Guyana (BoG) has started preparation to insulate the economy from inflation and is receiving help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Caribbean Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC).

Guyana’s Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with ExxonMobil’s subsidiary  is not very different from other frontier oil countries, according to the International Monetary Fund which says that a key focus now should be on how the revenues accrued are spent.

If Guyana is to avoid the oil resource curse, policymakers need to structure the Public Investment Programme to embrace transparency and evidence-based investment decisions.

Distancing itself from a workshop on local policies ExxonMobil says its engagement with the APNU+AFC government on business and policy initiatives is similar to its practices globally and should not be cause for worry.

By Tara Patricia Cookson Tara Patricia Cookson is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia and director of Ladysmith, a research consultancy focused on gender equality and social protection.