By Yolande Gittens

ATTORNEY General, Basil Williams, has assured Guyanese living in Canada that steps are being taken to safeguard Guyana’s environment while drilling for oil, when he addressed a meeting there on Saturday.

Perusal of a document prepared by the Department of Energy revealed that the entity was collaborating with the US State Department and Coast Guard along with the local Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to “elaborate a contingency oil spill plan”. Since this plan is in its second draft stage, there were no specific details available. It is expected to be finalised by this October. Mr. Williams also indicated that plans are in place to provide training for locals in the areas of occupational health and safety and disaster management specific to the oil and gas industry.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy, is working on increasing its readiness to deal with the oil boom. To this end, the DoE is collaborating with the Inter-American Bank (IADB) to recruit additional advisory services. This is in order to create and safeguard production sharing contract administration processes, and to ensure these are embedded within the DoE. A gas master plan is also being developed.

With respect to readying the DoE’s technical staff, plans are that they will shadow various hired experts such as economists, econometricians, and M&E procurement staff etc. It is foreseen that ultimately, a Ministry of Energy will be established.

From its oil discoveries to date, it is estimated that recoverable barrels of oil equivalent is appreciably 6 billion. Beginning 2020, Guyana is expected to earn an estimated US$300M. Further, it is predicted that by 2025, by which time it is expected that five FPSOs will be operational in the country’s waters, Guyana’s earnings could increase to more than US$5B.

In the question and answer period, members of the audience raised issues such as the government’s readiness for elections, the failure to secure convictions in the cases of criminal charges brought against former PPP government officials, and remigration.
During these discussions, Mr. Williams indicated that his government is in election campaign mode and plans to continue meeting with citizens countrywide to appraise them of strides that the administration has made over the past four years. With respect to the lack of convictions, the AG observed that the system inherited had flaws. In many cases, documents pertaining to same were either lost or destroyed. Thus resulting in a dearth of evidence by which charges could be proven. He urged that patience be exercised while the government worked to strengthen the system, as it would take some time to correct 23 years of mismanagement.

Speaking to re-migration, Mr. Williams urged the group to consider returning with their various skill sets, in order to contribute to the country’s continued development. He named the manufacturing sector as one area which needs concentrated and consistent development.