INDIA has agreed to work and share its experience in the oil-and-gas sector with Guyana, as the latter prepares for production in 2020.
This was according to India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan in a tweet two days ago.

Minister Pradhan made the tweet during the Guyana/India Joint Commission and Inter-Ministerial Consultation in India, which is being attended by several government officials, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge and Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.

The Indian official stated in one of his tweets that: “[India] agreed to work with Guyana and share our experience in the entire gamut of hydrocarbon sector.” He went on to add that: “[we] will share India’s cumulative experience in refinery, petrochemicals and capacity-building in the oil-and-gas sector.”

In another tweet, Minister Pradhan said that he “had a useful discussion” with the Guyana delegation and that they “discussed the possibilities of E&P (exploration & production) activities by Indian companies in Guyana.”

ExxonMobil, the oil company which has discovered oil deposits just offshore Guyana, has said that production is expected to commence by 2020.
The tweets, which were more than 400 times, prompted mixed reactions, with most Indian nationals welcoming the move and encouraging greater cooperation between the two countries, given their historical connection.

During the engagements, Minister Trotman had shared that: “There is great enthusiasm from both sides of the ocean for petroleum and natural gas. There are cases for collaboration, for exploration to marketing. There is also a possibility of Indian companies engaging with us for petroleum and natural gas.”

He also touched on sugar, offering that: “We are in [the] process of reconstructing [and] rationalising the sugar industry. We are looking at ways India can help in the provision of knowledge and expertise with respect to the sugar industry.

“On a personal level, the visit has been amazing, and on a technical level, we have had a good meeting with the Indian government. I go back with great expectations for the way forward” the minister said. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the oil-and-gas sector is among the six core industries in India and plays a major role in influencing decision-making for all the other important sectors of the economy.
IBEF is a trust established by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

The Foundation explains that India’s economic growth is closely related to energy demand; therefore, the need for oil and gas is projected to grow more, thereby making the sector quite conducive for investment. India’s oil consumption grew 8.3 per cent year-on-year to 212.7 million tonnes in 2016, as against the global growth of 1.5 per cent, thereby making it the third largest oil-consuming nation in the world. Further, data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), indicate that the petroleum and natural gas sector attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth US$ 6.86 billion between April 2000 and September 2017. Meanwhile, during other engagements, three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) were signed between the Governments of Guyana and India in the area of renewable energy, for a cultural exchange programme and a Framework Agreement on International Solar Alliance (ISA).