Latest update March 27th, 2026 12:40 AM
Guyana’s oil and gas sector in “deep trouble” – Norton
…says country lacks planning for prudent management
…greater Parliamentary involvement needed
(Kaieteur News) – Instead of a ‘wake up and implement’ approach to the management of Guyana’s blossoming petroleum industry, Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Aubrey Norton has called for a more careful method that involves stringent planning for prudent governance of the sector.
PNC/R Leader, Aubrey Norton
Norton during a press conference on Friday told reporters that the current method, as outlined by President Irfaan Ali of ‘making up a plan as we go along’ cannot be sustainable.
In fact, he said the President has exposed the glaring reality that the sector is in “deep trouble”. The former Opposition Leader was at the time addressing a question from this newspaper on the government’s push to ramp up oil production in the Stabroek Block, through a process referred to as optimisation. This allows operators such as ExxonMobil to increase oil production beyond the design rates of the Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs) that operate offshore. The process involves assessing the vessels for areas to safely increase production levels.
Norton made it clear that while he believes Guyana should seize the opportunity to develop its natural resources, more planning and analyses should be employed by the government of Guyana.
“Mind you I am one who believes that developing countries like Guyana must be given the opportunity to develop their oil resources not one who believes it should stay in the ground for pure environmental concerns but I do believe as well, the environment must be taken into consideration and all the plans should have proper environmental impact assessments, it should have proper financial assessment and it should be done in the context of the long-term development of Guyana,” he said.
To this end, he clarified that any increased levels of production must be backed by robust assessments and careful consideration of the environment. Additionally, he explained that the Parliamentarians should also be included in the process. Arguments were previously made for proposed increases to be vetted in the National Assembly.
According to Norton, “I think they (plans to increase oil production) should be vetted by stakeholders- a wider cross section. Parliamentarians are one but these are things I believe should include the private sector, it should include other civil society organisations and it should include a professional core of people who have the capacity to deal with such things.”
He stressed, “I believe that we have to have a plan and if we have a plan, the government should put out the plan and that plan should be able to tell us the areas of production we are going in, the benefits, the limitations…in the absence of those things, you are just talking about ramped up production. It’s not done within a proper policy framework or a developmental program and it is likely to be disastrous.”
Back in November this newspaper reported that government had approved a request by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) to increase production on two Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSOs) by 30,000 barrels each, pushing the projects to produce a total of 60,000 barrels above their design capacity.
According to the mid-year report, “Production from the Stabroek Block – the Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, and Prosperity FPSOs – grew in the first half of 2025. Collectively, these projects achieved an average rate of nearly 640,000 bpd, exceeding the 624,000 bpd at the end of June 2024.” Government explained that the higher production rates were driven by successful optimisation activities conducted on the Liza Unity and Prosperity FPSOs. Optimisation in the oil and gas sector refers to a process geared at enhancing oil recovery. The company would assess the performance of the facilities for existing limitations of the installed equipment to determine how those could be improved.
According to the report, “These scopes, largely entailing topside debottlenecking activities, will continue to enable production rates averaging beyond 250,000 (barrels per day) bpd at Unity and Prosperity into the second half, respectively.” It is important to note that the Liza Unity FPSO, which produces oil at the Liza Two development, has a design capacity of 220,000 bpd, according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The document also states that “the facilities will have the potential to safely operate at sustained peaks of oil production up to approximately 250,000 bpd”. Be that as it may the vessel is now producing over its safe operating limit. Similarly, the Prosperity FPSO which produces oil at the third deep-water development offshore was designed to produce 220,000 bpd, according to the EIA.
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What balderdash. Where in the history of the PNC did they ever exhibit prudent management of the Guyana Economy. The first time in power the made Guyana into a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) and the second time saddled the country with a lopsided PSA over US$18million that Trotman thought was for the boys all while emptying the treasury with nothing to show for it.