THE University of Guyana has signed a tripartite agreement with the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) and CBMEX Energy Guyana, which would pave the way for more persons to be trained in the oil and gas sector.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will place Guyana in a better position to take advantage of opportunities in the budding sector, a release said.

It was signed during a simple ceremony at the GOGEC Head Office on Middle Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown and signing for the University of Guyana was Vice-Chancellor, XI, Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin.

Manniram Prashad signed for the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber and Milton E. Chaves for CBMEX. The signing was also witnessed by Antonio Cruz-Diaz, Charge’d Affairs, Embassy of Mexico and Alex Armogan, founding Director of UG’s Institute for Energy Diplomacy (UGIED).
Vice-Chancellor Mohamed-Martin acknowledged that the university has recognised that the question of training in oil and gas is critical to the country.

“We have local-content targets that have to be met… we are behind the training curve because of how fast these oil and gas projects were developed. There is a huge amount of training to be done, not only in oil and gas, but also in human resources, occupational health and safety, computing and data analytics, financing and accounting, and legal areas,” the Vice-Chancellor explained.

Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber President, Manniram Prashad, noted that GOGEC is happy to collaborate with the University of Guyana and CBMEX to foster closer relations and cooperation in the training initiative.

According to Prashad, GOGEC aims to train over 1,000 students throughout the country from next year. “We will be working closely with the university and CBMEX to have this programme on track, which has proven to be very successful,” Prashad said.

Chaves, a CBMEX board member, noted that this is a milestone for his organisation to partner with the University of Guyana and GOGEC in this initiative.

“We bring the best training in international oil and gas training into countries that are entering into the energy field… our utmost goal is to enrich the lives of the Guyanese people through training in the oil and gas sector,” he said.

UG’s Institute for Energy Diplomacy, Director, Alex Armogan, who played a pivotal role in formulation of the MoU, posited that “UG’s IED is focused on capacity building geared towards meeting local-content requirements. We must optimise the local-content framework based on what is realistically achievable; capacity building is essential to developing our local capabilities. We welcome all public and private strategic partnerships to forward this initiative.”

Armogan detailed that UG’s IED is offering courses in crude-oil trading, energy markets, energy transportation and shipping, and oil and gas value chain. Also, soon to come on stream are energy project investment and finance, oil and gas negotiations, oil and gas law, and oil and gas project planning and management.

The University of Guyana offers over 20 programmes in energy, including oil and gas and petroleum engineering, the release said.