MINISTER of Governance and National Patrimony within the Ministry of the Presidency, Hon. Raphael Trotman, recently attended a series of high-level meetings in Washington D.C on Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative.The Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative (EGCI) is a U. S. Department of State – led, U. S. inter-agency effort to provide a wide range of technical and capacity- building assistance to the host governments of select countries that are on the verge of becoming the world’s next generation of oil and gas producers.
The countries receiving EGCI assistance have world-class hydrocarbon resource potential and are expected to receive sizeable, near-term financial windfalls from the development of their oil and gas resources.
EGCI’s core objective is to help such countries establish the capacity to manage their oil and gas resources responsibly.
Although EGCI’s goals are country-specific in nature, the programme broadly tries to ensure sound and transparent energy-sector governance for the benefit of national economic development.
Managed by the Bureau of Energy Resources at the State Department, EGCI works in four areas of capacity building that include the technical understanding of the resource, through applying the most appropriate technologies.
During the meetings, Minister Trotman was able to have fruitful discussions on issues such as Offshore and Regulatory overview, Lease Sale Planning, Company Bonding, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Analysis and Review of Exploration and Production Plans. Additionally, the meeting facilitated a networking link that will be pivotal as Guyana advances its activities in the oil and gas sector.