—Bharrat urges youths to seize opportunities in energy sector
MINISTER of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat on Friday issued a direct call to young Guyanese to position themselves strategically for the expanding opportunities emerging from the country’s booming oil and gas sector, urging them to pursue education, certification, and skills that align with future demand.
He delivered the charge during the youth forum at the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, where he engaged secondary school students, university students and young professionals on career pathways in the natural resources sector.
“Today, we want young Guyanese to grab opportunities. We want you to take advantage of the opportunities that are before you, and that will come in the future,” Bharrat told the gathering.
He highlighted that while the future outlook is bright, young people must take deliberate steps to prepare themselves, academically and professionally, to benefit from the unfolding transformation.
“I keep saying that the future for you as young people is a bright one; that you should see the opportunities that are coming your way, and that you should ensure that you develop yourself. You should ensure that you stay in school. You should ensure that you focus on being certified and being qualified, so that you can grab the opportunities when they come to you, and as young people, you dare to dream. As young people, you must be ambitious,” the minister said.
Bharrat pointed to the recently launched Guyana Technical Training College in Berbice as a clear example of how targeted skills training is already translating into employment. According to him, more than 35 young Guyanese have been trained and deployed on floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels offshore, with another cohort of approximately 25 currently undergoing training.
“That can be you next year; that can be you the other year,” he told students, underscoring that the pipeline of opportunities is expanding as production and investment grow.
Additionally, Minister Bharrat urged students to “remove the mental block” surrounding mathematics and the pure sciences, calling for an urgent culture shift in how these subject areas are viewed.
At a time when Guyana’s oil and gas sector is rapidly expanding oil and gas, infrastructure, health and technology sectors are creating growing demand for technical expertise.
While many students express interest in working in oil and gas, the minister stressed that entry into the sector requires strong grounding in science, engineering and technology.
The Minister then told students not to feel pressured to pursue a specific path, but to “do what you love, do what you want”.
The Minister traced Guyana’s unprecedented transformation to the youths, sharing his own personal experiences with when Guyana was once relatively obscure.
“This small country is doing big things today. Our country; this small Guyana is the fastest growing economy in the world. In only five years of oil production, we have become the highest oil producing nation in the world per capita,” Minister Bharrat said, underscoring that this is no easy task to achieve in such a short period of time.
The Minister told the audience of secondary school students, university students and young professionals that Guyana’s unprecedented development in the oil and gas sector has been recognised by global giants, including Chevron and ExxonMobil.
Today, Guyana is producing over 900,000 barrels of oil per day and is projected to surpass 1.5 million barrels per day within four years, he told the youths, underscoring that this is a major milestone for the nation.
Speaking on the sector’s framework, the Minister noted that the revised petroleum agreements are boosting royalty rates from two per cent to 10 per cent and introducing corporate taxes on operators, noting that with production set to increase, so will future oil revenues.
