Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo on Monday welcomed executives from Brazilian oil company, PETROBRAS, who are in Guyana for top-level talks with the Government of Guyana.

The team from the giant Brazilian petroleum company comprises Petrobras Joint Venture Development Manager, Bernardo Castelloes, and Regional Interpretation of Sedimentary Managers Messrs Juliano Magalhaes Stica and Carlos Roberto Becker. The Petrobras delegation was accompanied by Ambassador of Brazil to Guyana, Lineu Pupo de Paula, and Deputy Head of Mission, Paulo Eduardo Borda de Carvalho Silos.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo reminded the team of the continuing strong relations between Guyana and Brazil, as he looks forward to positive outcomes from talks between Petrobras and Guyana’s energy officials for further collaborations between our countries. The Petrobras team presented the Prime Minister with a symbolic barrel of oil, while the Prime Minister gave the visitor an enlarged photo of the Official visit to Brazil of President David Granger.

Later the team met with Minister Dawn Hastings-Williams, under her new portfolio as Minister of State, and Director of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe during which they presented a five-year strategic plan for Guyana’s upcoming oil and gas industry, which includes technical assistance, export and import services and training.

Minister Hastings-Williams told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the talks between the corporation and government have been quite fruitful and promising. She hopes that this can be reinforced with the representatives’ willingness to provide a comprehensive proposal.

This, she said, will allow relevant stakeholders to have a better understanding of the information provided to see how best the government can partner with Petrobras. “We [the Coalition government] are interested in having many countries come on board around this shelf of exploration and production of oil. As you know, oil production is bigger than bauxite, gold… this is not to say the country’s other natural resources will be pushed aside; it just means that we must be extremely careful,” she added.

Dr. Bynoe, said government welcomes the company’s support. “We are like you; we have a vision, a strategic plan in terms of where we are going… currently we have a road map and we trust that over time we begin to enhance our own capacities through buying in third-party expertise and then Guyanese expertise moving forward as minister indicated with training,” the Head of DoE said.

He noted that despite the current challenges concerning the oil and gas industry, Guyana hopes to establish a concrete plan that will benefit its citizens. It was highlighted that Guyana has thus far benefitted from more than $16B (US$75M) directly from the oil and gas sector.

Petrobras, is still negotiating with the Government to secure an oil block offshore Guyana. The company had officially applied for an oil block early last year and is still in the process of trying to acquire the block, Deputy Ambassador of Brazil to Guyana, Ronaldo Vieira had told the Guyana Chronicle in an exclusive interview. “They are still dealing with this particular block but it is not just Petrobras, there are a number of Brazilian companies that are trying to get into the market here; we are liaising with local businesses to make connection with those in Brazil. “It is the same level with ExxonMobil. Petrobras explore and drill and do lots of things related to that but then there are smaller companies that provide parts, management of the platform and so forth,” he said.

Vieira further said that there are a lot of opportunities here that are related to the budding oil and gas industry. Petrobras is looking to capitalise on the opportunities. It is one of a number of large oil companies seeking to acquire offshore blocks in Guyana.

It was reported that US oil major Chevron, and France’s Total are also among nine companies seeking remaining oil blocks here and government is exploring both “direct engagements” and a “select bidding process” in assigning them.

The companies that have blocks in the deep water area, offshore Guyana, are: Repsol and Tullow Oil (the Kanuku Block); Tullow (the Orinduik