U.S. offers oil and gas policy support to Guyana

Georgetown: United States State Department Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Energy Diplomacy, Robin Dunnigan on Wednesday met with Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman and Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson to discuss possible areas of collaboration for the development of the energy sector in Guyana. The meeting, which took place at the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Boardroom on Brickdam, included Minister Patterson, Advisor on Sustainable Development at the Department, Clayton Hall, Senior Energy Advisor at the U.S. State Department, Daniel Birns, James Bjorkman, Political and Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy, Frisco McDonald, Economic and Political Counselor, U.S. Embassy and Theresa Game, Technical Officer at the NRE. Ms. Dunnigan said that the United States is interested in pushing sustainable energy programmes and initiatives especially in the Caribbean. This is as she pointed out Guyana’s potential to push green energy initiatives which can benefit the country and the Caribbean at large. To this end, she invited the minister and his team for a visit in the United States where they will be introduced to the various sustainable energy enterprises which are present there. “We want to put together a range of experts for you from the oil and gas side to electricity grid operators…you can increase access in parts of the country which do not have and you can create a wider grid. You are going to have a huge agenda, so please think of us as a resource. I’d like to think that we have a lot of common interest and we can create a sustainable path to energy conservation,” Dunnigan told the ministers. Minister Trotman, in expressing thanks to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for reaching out to the Government of Guyana, said that it was in the country’s national interest for alternative energy initiatives to be pursued. “We thank your Government for looking at our needs… It is in our national interest to delink and to spread out to the other alternatives. We have squandered the opportunities in the past but we need to pursue other avenues,” Minister Trotman expressed. Minister David Patterson also expressed similar sentiments as he noted that the Government of Guyana is committed to seeing Hydropower stations and alternative energy initiatives set up in the country so that citizens can benefit. He said that Guyana possesses the natural resources and therefore it should be fully utilised. In the meantime, Minister Trotman disclosed that the Government has taken the decision to upgrade the Upstream Gas and Oil Policy which was crafted some two years ago. To this end, he said that the Government has invited the Commonwealth, which had helped in crafting the Policy to return to the country for it to be upgraded. This team is scheduled to return to Guyana in November in this year for the new policy to be drafted and if legislative measures are needed, then these will be crafted. It envisions a strong, vibrant, and sustainable Private Sector-driven oil and gas industry, which will contribute significantly to Guyana’s socio-economic development. The policy document represents Guyana’s first attempt at setting out specific policy objectives and implementation measures for the exploration and potential development of upstream oil and gas resources found here. The Upstream Gas and Oil Policy was developed by the then Ministry of Natural Resources and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, with technical assistance from the Governance and Natural Resources Advisory Services Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Work on the Policy started in 2012. The Policy was finalised and approved in the third quarter of 2014.