With oil extraction expected to commence by 2020, Guyana has been urged to keep the oil and gas sector insulated from politics. Former Trinidad and Tobago Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine made the appeal on Thursday during a public lecture at the Pegasus Hotel (Guyana).
The event was organised by the Guyana Oil and Gas Association (GOGA).
Ramnarine, who served as Energy Minister from 2011 to 2015, recommended that Guyana establish a State-owned company to manage the country’s oil and gas sector.
“This company’s board and management must be insulated from politics… because if it is not, you will get a call to hire somebody’s nephew,” he said.
Ramnarine also suggested that Guyana set up three state agencies: one to partner with oil giant Exxon; one to focus on infrastructural development in the country; and the other to focus on marketing products.
He pointed to the fact that new production-sharing contracts in Trinidad has allowed for the ministry to market its own hydrocarbons.
He said whatever State companies are formed; part of the equity should be put on the stock exchange.
But in relation to the actual benefits derived from oil production, Ramnarine believes that Guyanese have much to celebrate as the discovery will not only benefit the country, but the region and the world at large.
Most of the countries in the region depended on countries like Venezuela for oil.
And according to the former Energy Minister, he holds the view that Guyana’s discovery has the potential to “dramatically change the economy of Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean”.
“I said that in 2015 and that view has now been amplified,” he added.
Ramnarine noted that when the Liza discovery was made, it had a significant impact on the world of oil and gas.
“It was the biggest discovery of 2015. It is interesting that it is made by one of the best companies in the world. This is not a company that will drop anchor in Guyana and leave. Exxon will be in Guyana for over 50 years,” he said, adding that the relationship between Exxon and Guyana is similar to Trinidad and Tobago and British Petroleum.
He said what this means for the ordinary citizen is that Guyana is going to become richer very quickly, and it is then up to the Government to decide what it wants to do with that wealth.
President David Granger has already hinted at the establishment of a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) for Guyanese.
An SWF consists of pools of money derived from a country’s reserves, set aside for investment purposes to benefit the country’s economy and citizens.
Ramnarine’s presentation was made on the same day ExxonMobil announced positive results from its Payara-1 well offshore Guyana. Payara is ExxonMobil’s second oil discovery on the Stabroek Block and was drilled in a new reservoir.