THE Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, in collaboration with the United States) Embassy in Georgetown, along with the Department of State and Department of the Interior, Wednesday hosted a deep water exploration and energy governance and capacity initiative workshop.The event, at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, was aimed at providing an overview of issues for regulators to address in deep water exploration. These include regulatory responsibilities and functions, and monitoring operations to prevent unforeseen incidents and for regulatory compliance.  Among participants were representatives from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Natural Resources Ministry.
Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud, in brief remarks, noted that Guyana has started a very elaborate and comprehensive process in preparing for the oil and gas economy.
He commended the US Government for its continued technical and other forms of assistance in this regard. “I want to commend the US Government and the staff for their abiding support over the years in facilitating workshops in building capacity as we prepare our oil and gas sector in all of its aspects, in terms of how do we manage revenues and ensure transparency, and also how do we look at safety and technology and very critically, how do we reach out for investment,” the minister pointed out.
He emphasised that the US has been an important ally in ensuring that Guyana mobilise the investment and undertake the efforts to develop the country’s natural resources even in the face of some unjustified and unwarranted attempts by some external forces, who seek to push back Government’s efforts in developing natural recourses both off and on shore.
Minister Persaud further noted that the workshop was a clear demonstration of this commitment.
“We have started the process already of looking at putting legislations in place, in terms of what we need to do in developing the right regulations in terms of the policy, and we have already developed a national upstream oil and gas policy which will be taken to Parliament. We have already started to engage a number of experts in reviewing our legislation and developing appropriate legislation to look at all aspects, including the issue of revenue management,” Minister Persaud explained.
He added that Guyana will soon be submitting its formal application to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global standard aimed at improving revenues, transparency, and accountability in the extractive sector.
In expressing a word of caution, the minister said, “We are still in the exploration phase so we have to temper expectation as we know we have Exxon currently carrying out drilling and they are well on schedule. All of us have our fingers crossed, hoping that in a few weeks we will be able to have some good news. We are preparing for this sector and the Government is firmly fixed in ensuring that even as we move through the phase of exploration, that we are well advanced and well prepared, and we also learn from other countries that have gone through similar process and similar journey in this regard.”
Meanwhile, Charge d’ Affaires of the US Embassy, in Georgetown, Bryan Hunt, noted that developing natural resources such as oil and gas can have tremendous benefits for countries; however, it carries tremendous risk.
Hunt highlighted that because of the technical and economic aspects of this sector, it is prone to   mismanagement and corruption, which will ultimately lead to under development. It is therefore important for countries entering into the oil and gas production business to put systems in place to avoid these problems before production starts and money begins to flow.(GINA)