An Italian oil and gas exploration company could be the “new kid on the block” if the Government of Guyana gives the go-ahead for it to carry out exploration offshore Guyana.
According to the Department of Public Information (DPI), earlier today (Monday), Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman met the company’s Senior Vice President Guido Zappa and team at his Ministry, where he received a packaged plan of action from the company.
Last week, the Indian Government also indicated its interest in exploration activities here.
Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Venkatachalam Mahalingam was quoted as saying: “definitely, there is an active interest by Government of India in exploring oil by having an oil block in Guyana.”
According to the High Commissioner, this was conveyed to Minister Trotman, who was part of a high-level delegation to India, led by Second Vice President and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge back in February. The Guyanese Ministers had met with Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan.
While High Commissioner Mahalingam had noted that there has been follow-up correspondence between the responsible ministries of the two countries, he could not say whether the Indian Government had made a formal application to obtain licences to conduct exploration of Guyana’s offshore oil blocks.
