Guyana Oil and Gas News

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.

Despite its two oil finds to date, the United Kingdom-headquartered Tullow Oil says it has not yet determined if the discoveries are in commercial quantities and wants Guyana’s expectations of it to be tempered until additional exploration and data analysis.

Proposed cash transfers to citizens from expected oil revenues is going to be a defining issue at the upcoming general elections, according to WPA Executive David Hinds, who says the ruling APNU+AFC coalition risks losing supporters if it does not embrace the initiative, which has stirred a groundswell of support. 

Twelve Guyanese will over the next five years benefit from a $785M academic programme sealed between the University of Guyana (UG) and Trent University of Canada.

President David Granger has once again committed to using revenue earned from oil and gas to improve Guyana’s education sector.

Guyana will undergo massive development when the oil starts flowing and New York-based Guyanese would like to see free university education as a priority so that more young people would be qualified and remain there.  

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Dr Vincent Adams has praised moves by oil major ExxonMobil and its prime contractors to hire specialists for in-house oversight of the environment as he highlighted that the regulatory body faces challenges in filling those positions because of the lack of local personnel and money to pay overseas specialists.