…Petroleum advisor urges citizens

Government’s Petroleum Advisor Dr Jan Manga believes that Guyanese need to have realistic expectations of the impending oil-and-gas industry and urged that focus be placed on infrastructural development and investing the revenue from the resource on the citizens.

Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Dr Mangal said with news of the oil finds, there has been much talk about job creation within the sector, but notes that that could be a misconception. In fact, the expert noted that such an expectation is unrealistic. “Initially, expectations are all over the place because people don’t know what to expect and they expect jobs from in the industry and that’s not realistic.”

He noted that President David Granger has laid out a vision for the oil-and-gas sector here and it is clear, based on that vision, that the citizens will benefit from the revenues derived therefrom. “…that’s [the vision] focused on taking the revenue from oil and gas and spending it and investing it in existing industries, on all the things Guyanese complain about–schools, roads, hospitals…,” Dr Mangal explained.

The Petroleum expert noted that while the focus is on the revenue and spending it appropriately, the timeline for the infrastructural development is affected by when the revenue is received. “However, the government has the opportunity to go and borrow money upfront now and start spending…It is on those projects that people will see the benefit and all those jobs will be local, schools, roads etc. all local jobs,” Dr Mangal assured. He called on the citizenry to pay more attention to the revenue and how that revenue would be spent to their benefit. The government’s advisor noted that while it would be great for Guyanese to work directly in the oil-and-gas sector, it is important to note that Guyana does not have the human capacity, the skills to do so.

“There are not enough Guyanese to do all these projects. Guyana will have to open the door; bring in people from outside to bring Guyana up to standard. There is a huge opportunity for Guyana. It is the revenue, and it is investing the revenue for its people,” he stressed.

However, Dr Mangal believes that with foreign expertise, Guyana stands to benefit tremendously, noting that the country is new to an industry that could change dramatically over night if not properly managed. “In terms of Guyanese thinking that we are not going to get the jobs…there are going to be too many jobs…if managed well, there should be too many jobs and people who will be coming in to do jobs Guyanese don’t want to do or can’t do.”

Dr Mangal noted that because Guyana is starting from base, citizens must understand that the administration must seek overseas expertise. He urges that human capacity is increased rapidly as Guyana prepares for oil production in 2020. “That capacity is unlikely to come from Guyana or from the diaspora – it will have to come from oil and gas professionals around the world.

Guyana needs to go out and seek the best because the tradeoffs are enormous,” said Dr Mangal who stressed that capacity is not limited to human capacity, but institutional capacity and capacity in other areas that are not related to oil and gas. “Capacity for government to save the revenue properly, capacity to spend the revenue appropriately,” he said is important, while noting that Guyana is faced with a potentially huge increase in revenues “and unless those revenues are spent wisely, then we have seen around the world–even with increased revenues–it can be easily squandered and the benefits do not translate.”

TT takeover
Asked to comment on Guyana being warned about a Trinidad takeover of the sector, the Petroleum Advisor reminded that historically, Guyana has not done well economically. He attributed this to brain drain as one of the main reasons while stressing that unless reversed…Guyana is in dire need of expertise, given the amount of work that needs to be done.

“Because of oil revenue, we need a huge influx of people. The most important resource is not the oil resource; it is the human resource–human capacity–nothing will get done without people, appropriately qualified people,” declared Dr Mangal who stressed that “Guyanese currently do not have the skills; they need to accept that.”

He explained that it will take time to develop the skills and it is important for Guyana to become more competitive internally. The expert believes a way to do that is to open the doors, not necessarily Trinidadians, but to all countries that have experts in the field. “If they are skilled, if they can add value they should be allowed in, because the brain drain has really affected Guyana and this is an opportunity now …there are projects to do, money to be spent. Let people come in,” said Dr Mangal.

“Look around the world, the successful countries. Why are they successful? Because of migration…Canada, the U.S., Australia, Cayman Islands and other small islands that have open policies about open migration, they are all successful because of migration. So if Guyana wants to keep its doors closed, it won’t help Guyana,” he continued.