Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Venkatachalam Mahalingam, on Thursday during a press conference said that his Government is interested in oil blocks offshore Guyana and has indicated this to the Guyanese Government.
Discussions in this regard, INews understands, were held during the recent high-level Ministerial and Presidential visits to India.
Additionally, the Indian government, which currently buys oil from several Latin American countries, said it is also interested in purchasing oil from Guyana when production starts in 2020.
Guyana’s Head of State recently visited India to attend the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Founding Conference and Solar Summit.
During a bilateral meeting held in New Delhi, India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told President David Granger that India is willing to do whatever it can to support Guyana’s development and pointed out that there are many areas for cooperation, particularly in the sugar and oil sectors.
This meeting followed closely on a visit to India, in January of this year, by a delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge during which Guyana and India signed three cooperation agreements-one on renewable energy, one on cultural exchange and the framework agreement on ISA.
A number of companies, such as ExxonMobil, Tullow, CGX, Ratio oil, among others, currently hold petroleum blocks in Guyana and with the world class discoveries made by Exxon, a number of big players have expressed interest in coming on board.