Private sector must get with the “jet boat flow”

Nov 22, 2022 News

…Oil industry not moving like MV Torani and MV Malali – Minister Vickram Bharrat

Kaieteur News – Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat recently urged members of the private sector to move with a sense of alacrity in building their capabilities and forming the partnerships necessary to take full advantage of the opportunities that abound in the country’s lucrative oil and gas sector.

Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat

During an engagement last week with industry stakeholders, Bharrat said the oil industry is moving at an unprecedented pace. He said the pace is much like a jet boat that outruns the speed of the MV Torani and MV Malali—two large vessels which have been traversing the nation’s major waterways since the 1960s. In true Guyanese fashion, Minister Bharrat encouraged companies to “get with the jet boat flow.” He also stressed the need for local companies to desist from fighting with each other but instead, see how their strengths can be pooled, thereby increasing their competitive advantage in the oil sector. Bharrat said, “Local companies need to stop fighting with each other and seeing each other as competitors; otherwise, we will miss the boat and foreign companies will come in and sail away with it and we will be left on the shore quarrelling and fighting among ourselves…”

Bharrat said government will do as much as it can to provide an enabling environment for businesses. Be that as it may, he said companies still have a duty to take the necessary steps that will give them a greater advantage via strategic alliances as opposed to considering themselves standalone competitors.

The Natural Resources Minister reminded as well of the level of protectionism offered to locals with the 40 ring-fenced categories of work in the Local Content Legislation. Some of those sectors include catering, transportation and security. The Act is expected to undergo its first periodic review where these industries are likely to be expanded to allow citizens to take advantage of increased opportunities that will flow from the four sanctioned developments on the Stabroek Block.

The Liza Phase One and Liza Phase Two developments are currently operating at their combined gross production capacity of more than 360,000 barrels of oil per day. The third development at Payara is on track to come online at the end of 2023 utilising the Prosperity FPSO with a production capacity of approximately 220,000 gross barrels of oil per day. The fourth development, Yellowtail, is expected to come online in 2025, utilising the ONE GUYANA FPSO with a production capacity of approximately 250,000 gross barrels of oil per day.

A Plan of Development is expected to be submitted to the Government of Guyana before year end for a fifth development, Uaru, which is expected to come online at the end of 2026 with a gross production capacity of approximately 250,000 barrels of oil per day. The Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres. ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited is operator and holds 45 percent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 percent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited holds 25 percent interest.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News