Guyana Oil and Gas News

Optimistic that it can deliver a skills transfer system in the provision of marine logistics services to equip locals to run its operations here, United States-based marine transportation company Harvey Gulf has set up an office in Guyana.

With plans to be in Guyana for several decades, ExxonMobil is forging ahead with plans for the construction of its local headquarters at Ogle, on the East Coast of Demerara.

When the APNU+AFC administration took office in 2015, its focus in the oil and gas sector was making preparations for production and not investigating the award of oil blocks by the previous government shortly before the elections, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman says.

The participation of indigenous peoples as it relates to the oil and gas sector has been extremely limited, Governance and Rights Coordinator at the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) Laura George said when the non-profit Moray House Trust convened a civil society panel discussion on Thursday.

The issuance of a permit to ExxonMobil for its Liza Phase 2 project has hit another snag as the US$2 billion+ coverage they have secured from a United Kingdom insurance firm does not meet local insurance requirements, according to sources close to the process.

Following its two most recent finds, ExxonMobil yesterday revised its estimated gross recoverable resource from the Stabroek Block to approximately 5.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is conducting an international search for oil and gas experts as the agency prepares for first oil next year.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry has teamed up with the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), to send a team to the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in May, to not only sell Guyana, but to secure business and investment opportunities for small entrepreneurs   here.  “I really want to sell this because this is about selling the country as a destination event for everything we can do for business, directly and indirectly in the oil and gas industry,” Senior Vice President of the GCCI, Nicholas Boyer, stated at a press conference on Friday.

Former president Donald Ramotar is maintaining that he had no knowledge of ExxonMobil’s oil find in the Stabroek Block before the 2015 general elections and therefore his award of contracts to private companies shortly before should not be seen as questionable.

Attorney Melinda Jankie has expressed concern that the liability coverage submitted by ExxonMobil for its Liza Phase 2 operations in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana is not enough but Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Dr Vincent Adams has reiterated that it meets global industry standards.

Local training and recruitment firm, Strategic Recruitment Solutions (SRS), has placed 26 sailors on ships involved in the oil and gas sector since it began operating last year, Chief Executive Officer Kerri Gravesande-Bart says.

ExxonMobil is expected to receive its permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week for its Liza Phase 2 operations in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana, after assuring the agency that it could cover the liability in the event of an oil spill.

Twenty-five more Guyanese are closer to being able to gain footholds in the emerging oil and gas industry after they completed an eight-week immersion programme in safety and operational training at the TOTALTEC Oilfield Services Academy.

The fast approaching manifestation of first oil for Guyana, is coinciding with what Oil and Gas People, one of the world’s leading job sites in the sector, says is an impending skills crisis which will impact the industry as a whole.

International consultancy firm on Oil and Gas, Bayphase of the United Kingdom yesterday tendered a US$281,000 bid to provide services to the Natural Resources Ministry. 

With plans to create over 200 jobs for locals in the oil and gas sector, an overseas-based Guyanese is partnering with an experienced United Kingdom offshore support company to create another shore-based operation in Region Four.

Saipem, ExxonMobil Guyana’s prime contractor for subsea installation services has offloaded its second shipment of 2684 pipes for the Liza Phase One project. 

Approximately one hundred youths turned up at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Saturday morning to participate in ‘Part Two’ of an interactive session on the oil and gas sector.

Up to the third quarter of 2018, Guyana had benefited from some US$64 million ($13.7 billion) in local content from the oil and gas sector which represents the highest amount since oil was first found here in 2015.

Hundreds of youths yesterday attended an interactive session on the oil and gas sector, where they were sensitised about the needs of the industry and steps to be taken in order to take advantage of available opportunities.