THE Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC) has hailed the inaugural Energy Conference and Expo which concluded at the Marriott Hotel on Friday a grand success and said the organisers and all stakeholders must be commended for their excellent work.

“For the first time in history, Guyana hosted a number of high-profile dignitaries in one event aimed at achieving a common goal and a win-win for all stakeholders involved: namely, the President of Ghana, the President of Suriname, the Prime Minister of Barbados, and the Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil,” the chamber said in a media release.

GOGEC is of the view that the response to the conference and expo is a demonstration of the regional and global importance of Guyana on several fronts, especially in the areas of international trade and investment opportunities for local, regional and foreign investors.

The event was well attended by local, regional and international firms and according to GOGEG, it provided a platform for the formation of new partnerships among local and foreign companies to harness synergies, sharing of resources and capabilities, improving competitiveness and building capacity to meet the growing demand for goods and services in the oil and gas sector.

“More partnerships with local companies ultimately mean more jobs will be created for the local workforce. This also means that there will be greater competition for a skilled labour force, which is likely to incentivise persons to get themselves suitably qualified to enhance their own competitiveness in the job market.

“GOGEC wishes to congratulate ExxonMobil’s Chairman & CEO, Mr. Darren Woods, who attended Guyana’s inaugural energy conference earlier this week, for his company’s sterling contributions to Guyana’s development and the company’s role in Guyana’s economic transformation and development trajectory,” the chamber said.

It added: “More importantly, GOGEC supports the accelerated production in Guyana where the Chairman stated that by 2027 the company anticipates the company producing from six projects and another four by the end of the decade, thereby increasing daily production to in excess of one million barrels per day. To date, ExxonMobil has about 20 profitable oil discoveries offshore Guyana with much greater success expected in the future. GOGEC is also happy to hear of ExxonMobil’s renewed commitment to further advancing local content in Guyana.”

The chamber contended that Guyana is on a path of rapid expansion and development and there will be a plethora of opportunities for all stakeholders which will result in improvement of the quality of life and standard of living all Guyanese.

Guyana, it said, is well positioned to move from a lower-middle income country to a high-income country.