-with $500M set aside in Budget 2023

THE sum of $500 million has been allocated in the 2023 budget for the creation of an oil and gas data management system in Guyana and institutional strengthening of the country’s capacity to monitor the burgeoning sector.

Set aside under the Oil and Gas Sector Development Programme, the allocation provides for the creation of oil and gas data management system as well as the enhancement of legal and institutional framework for management and oversight of oil and gas sector, capacity building for the Ministries of Natural Resources, Public Works and Finance, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), and support for public relations for oil and gas sector and project management.

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat underscored the importance of the need for Guyana to have its own oil and gas data management system, in his response to questions on the estimates for the Ministry of Natural Resources, on Tuesday.

The $500 million is part of a $4.2 billion loan from the World Bank, of which $938.914 million has already been spent.

Having a sufficient data repository is a good way for Guyana to build on its local content, the minister highlighted.

“Our oil and gas data is not stored in Guyana. And the issue with that is that we can make a lot of revenue by having that data in country. Presently, it’s being hosted by one or two different companies in Houston that has the kind of capacity to hold our data,” Minister Bharrat said.

He related that Guyana’s oil and gas data being stored out of the country is how it has been since the nation had begun producing oil, and is due to the lack of capacity to host the data in Guyana.

Owing to this, Guyana is losing out on money that could be gained locally. An example, according to Minister Bharrat, is the ongoing oil-block auction, in which 14 offshore blocks are being auctioned.

Some of the oil blocks come with technical oil and gas related data, but Guyana cannot host the data, it is outsourced to third party companies, reducing the amount of money Guyana can receive.

“If any company [bidding in the auction] needs any additional data for Guyana, then they have to go to this third party in Houston and to pay for that data. Fifty per cent will come to us, but it is because we don’t have our own data repository in Guyana that we have to take 50 per cent and not 100 per cent.

“So we’re aiming to change that. We can have our own data stored in Guyana, we can manage it and make the revenue for ourselves right here in Guyana,” Minister Bharrat emphasized.

Moreover, as Guyana’s oil and gas sector continues to develop, there will continue to be an increase in the amount of data that needs to be stored, not only from the Stabroek Block currently being operated by Exxon Mobil and partners Hess and CNOOC, but current and future blocks being explored.

“With the allocation [in the budget] we will be able to start that process, to get a consultant and look at our needs as a country. We would have to determine first of all what data we need to store, the size of the data, what software will be needed, what hardware will be needed and the specification requirements.

“These are all information that we need up front. So there is an allocation here to hire a consultants to start the initial work so that we are advised properly before we rush into the data repository in Guyana. It’s not as simple as it sounds, it is highly technical,” Minister Bharrat related.