Guyana will be receiving assistance from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) powerhouse Qatar when it comes to the formulation of a plan to utilise and monetise the gas supply it will get when the Gas-to-Energy project comes online.
This was revealed by Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat during consideration of the budget estimates. He was asked by parliamentary Opposition for an update on the gas utilisation plan, and Bharrat revealed that Government is getting help from Qatari experts.
“We have managed, through His Excellency President Ali and the recent visit of the Petroleum Minister from Qatar to Guyana, we have managed on building our relationship to secure two experts that will be in country next week. That is, Qatar sending two experts to Guyana to assist us with this very plan that the honourable member spoke of:
the gas leak and gas utilisation and monetisation plan; and at no cost to us.
This is Qatar’s way of showing its appreciation to Guyana. They will be paying for that,” Bharrat has said.
Late last year, Energy Affairs Minister of the State of Qatar, and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Energy, and Chairman of Qatar Airways, H.E. Engineer Saad bin Sherida Al-Kaabi, paid a visit to Guyana during which he met with President Dr. Irfaan Ali and Cabinet and discussed areas of cooperation.
With the allocation of $500 million for 2023 under the oil and gas sector development programme, Bharrat explained that the allocation will, among other things, cater for the creation of an oil and gas data management system. The 2023 allocation is being financed from external sources.
“There’s an allocation here to get a consultant, of course to look at our needs as a country. Because we would have to determine, first of all, what data we need to store, the size of the data, what software and hardware will be needed, the specifications and requirements,” he explained.
“These are all information we need upfront. So, there’s an allocation here to hire a consultant to start the initial work, so that we’re advised properly before we rush into setting up data repository in Guyana,” the Minister has said.
