OIL and Gas Adviser Matthew Wilks has said that the pace of development within Guyana’s Oil and Gas industry is “unprecedented” worldwide – in spite of claims of lacklustre development.

Wilks is the Oil and Gas Adviser at the Department of the Energy, which falls under the purview of the Ministry of the Presidency and has decades of experience working in the petroleum sector worldwide.

“I have spent over 35 years around the world, watching industries develop and the pace of development in Guyana is incredibly fast,” Wilks informed a large gathering of young people at an Oil and Gas Forum held on Saturday at the Umana Yana.

At the forum, many young people raised concerns that with oil production set to begin next year, Guyana seems to be slow in its preparedness. Further, many contended that the State is making few provisions to ensure that Guyanese are integrally involved in the industry.

“I know there are alot of frustration about opportunities coming forward, the pace of exploration moving to production is unprecedented worldwide – so everyone is in a ‘catch up’ mode,” Wilks highlighted.

“What we have seen from the time of exploration to the time of production, is the fastest it has ever been in the industry worldwide. So Guyana is taking five years from exploration to production, which has never happened before,” Director of the Department of Energy, Dr. Mark Bynoe said.

This development, according to him, means that Guyana does not have the luxury of time and resultantly has to be “turbo-charged” in developmental efforts.

“In managing this sector therefore, it is important that we have the requisite individuals and the department has been seeking those individuals wherever they are present. Knowing that there is a dearth of skills in Guyana for this particular sector, our want has been to hire in expertise but to seek to link those expertise with Guyanese persons like yourself, so that capacity can be built as we move forward,” Dr. Bynoe highlighted.

Wilks told the gathering too that the oil and gas industry generally does not employ huge amounts of persons, but real job opportunities will be derived from the expenditure of oil revenues.

“That [money] is going to catalyse all the job opportunities for everybody in this room. This money, as explained by him, could be spent on infrastructure, energy diversification, pursuing the GSDS or otherwise,” he said.

However, Dr. Bynoe also affirmed that efforts are being made to ensure that local persons and businesses benefit through the provision of local content within the industry.

“At this particular point in time, within the Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), operators are mandated to report and develop an annual local content plan,” Dr. Bynoe disclosed.

In fact, he shared too that more than 60 per cent of persons directly employed in the oil and gas sector are Guyanese and Guyanese are in all areas. Additionally, they are being trained to be directly absorbed into the sector.

At the forum, the director also shared his belief that Guyana has not been poor at managing its resources, as many may believe, but opined instead that Guyana has been poor at is enforcement and using resources optimally.

“When Guyana benefited from gold prices skyrocketing in 2007, 2008 and 2009, what happened to those resources?” he questioned rhetorically.

To ease the wariness of the young persons at the gathering, Bynoe said steps are being taken to optimally harness the benefits from the petroleum sector.

“That is why government has put in place the Natural Resources Fund or the Sovereign Wealth Fund, to ensure that those monies are challenged therein. It is not a development fund but it will help to protect where those resources are going,” he said.

Dr. Bynoe also related that as the country continues to prepare for the industry, it is necessary to start thinking and learning from others’ experiences and mistakes, to help avoid repeating them.

“The problem is that it may look slothful to some, and it may seem as though all our ducks are not lined up, but trust me, we are doing our darndest to get there, and I do believe that it is not a year that we have,” Dr. Bynoe said. “It doesn’t mean that come 2020, nothing else happens; these things evolve and they may be modified and they may be tweaked and they may be amended to deal with the context that we face at a particular point in time.”