Latest update November 5th, 2024 1:00 AM
‘Send your gas resources and receive the return immediately’- Trinidad’s Energy Minister urges Guyana
Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Stuart Young sharing remarks at Guyana’s Energy Conference
Kaieteur News – Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Stuart Young has urged Guyana to make use of the gas infrastructure already set up in the twin island to swiftly monetize Guyana’s gas resources.
He called on the country to consider the time and resources that could be saved in partnering with its sister Caribbean Community (CARICOM) state on this venture. Young was delivering remarks at this year’s Energy Conference, hosted at the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown between February 19 and 22 under the theme ‘Fuelling Transformation and Modernization’.
He told participants of the conference on Day Two that monetizing gas resources can not only take time, but require policy decisions for tax waivers and moratoriums that would not be required if the gas is simply sent to Trinidad.
Young reasoned, “Consider this concept, a new country that has just found new hydrocarbon resources and is now faced with the dilemma of what do I do, how do I allow the exploitation of for example gas reserves. It’s going to take a while to be able to monetize gas reserves. You have to bring it to shore, you have to create an industry onshore, be it the production of electricity, be it the production of fertilizer, be it the production of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) or any other pet-chem. All of those things cost billions of US dollars.”
He said that while there are countries that want LNG, T&T has already built the capacity, shipping routes and ironed out the other technical aspects but just require access to proven gas reserves.
The Minister asked, “How long would it take the people who own those resources to get those returns of the revenue from it? Don’t you have to offer tax holidays? Don’t you have to offer moratoriums? Don’t you have to offer incentives for the expenditure of those billions? Don’t you have to then put down the type of infrastructure for the shipping of it our etcetera and the recurring cost, as opposed to if we were to collaborate?”
Young therefore proposed, “…send your gas resources and you receive the return immediately. No wait, no moratorium, no need for incentive, an immediate return on your natural resources that you then use for the infrastructure in your countries as a return for the people of your respective countries.”
The Trinidadian Energy Minister told the conference that as the owners of the resources, countries are now at a stage in history of decision-making to take the decisions for future generations to benefit from.
“It’s a pie, there’s enough of the pie to go around for everyone and it’s all about fairness, it’s all about equity and it’s all about us being responsible for our own resources,” he concluded.
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