As interest in Guyana grows, it turns out that the country has been invited to take part in the upcoming Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) international seminar in Vienna, Austria.
Reports out of the Wall Street Journal had indicated that Guyana was invited to become a member of OPEC itself, by Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman and OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais.
When contacted by this publication, however, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat could not confirm whether this was indeed the case.
Additionally, a Reuters article quoted Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo denying that Guyana had been formally invited to join OPEC, an intergovernmental organisation of oil-exporting developing nations that includes such countries as Algeria, Angola, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela.
Rather, Jagdeo said that Guyana has been invited to participate in OPEC meetings. This is understood to include the upcoming seminar in Vienna, Austria, that will last from July 5-6, 2023, at the Hofburg Palace, as well as participate in a Ministerial Panel that will deal with the diversification of energy.
VP Jagdeo has been vocal about the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s intentions of maximising oil production for Guyana in the limited window oil currently has on the world stage. This would be counter to OPEC, which has in the past had its members curb production as a price control measure for oil on the global market. In fact, such a decision was made in April 2023.
Guyana, with United States (US) oil giant ExxonMobil as the operator, began producing oil on December 20, 2019, in the Stabroek Block. Guyana’s oil revenues are being held in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, where it is earning interest.
The oil-rich Stabroek Block, which is producing the oil, is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through its local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.
