The long-term implications for the oil and gas industry need not be “troubling” at all

Aug 09, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,
Chatham House Fellow, Dr. Valerie Marcel has opined that Guyana could find itself facing the risks of oil dependence if it goes further into the abyss of fossil fuel development, querying whether Guyana wants to follow the path of Trinidad & Tobago which has created a whole industry and economy around oil and gas, especially when the rest of the world has begun a slow but steady march towards decarbonisation (KN, 6 August 2021).
Dr. Marcel is acknowledged as an international petroleum expert, which I am not, whereas I am Guyanese, which she is not. The good expert however makes the potent point that Trinidad & Tobago’s path of using as much of their oil and gas as possible to create petroleum value, prudent as this was at the time our sister Caricom country became an oil producer over 50 years ago, may not be good for our country in light of the current awareness of and global reaction to the effects of climate change.
The international expert further comments on the perception of gas as a “transition fuel” for reducing the use of heavy fuel oil thus reducing emissions pending transition to a fuller green energy mix. All well and good thus far.
It is from the point where Dr. Marcel expresses reservations about putting in place expensive gas infrastructure to last a maximum of 10 years that I take issue with her expert opinion as a Guyanese, which the expert is not. Why should she or anyone from the already developed world or representing the current perspectives of the already developed world, set time parameters for our development? We were in no position for 4 centuries to set time parameters for the development of the already developed countries.
Indeed, our forefathers toiled first for no reward and later for pittances, living in virtual darkness after dusk for generations and only for a few decades to date with barely reliable (and very expensive) electricity services.
In my opinion as a non-expert though otherwise learned Guyanese, that 20 to 30 years is a very reasonable transition period within which Guyana can benefit from substantially cheaper electricity and cooking gas and recoup the US$900M that the project is estimated to cost.
The long-term implications need not be “troubling” at all but positively encouraging, once careful plans to develop and nurture commercial endeavours beyond the chain of dependence on oil are put in place and executed. In any event, we Guyanese treasure our rainforests and are proud of our contribution to the world by keeping our rainforests alive.
Yours truly,
Ronald Bostwick

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