Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh emphasised that numerous businesses from different countries in Africa are seeking out the multitude of available opportunities in Guyana’s thriving oil and gas industry.
Remarkably, a number of these nations are already collaborating with Guyanese businesses, and some directly supplying goods and services, training, and capacity building to the country’s petroleum sector.
This was highlighted by Minister Singh during a press conference at the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2023), at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown on Tuesday.
Dr Singh made it clear that collaboration opportunities exist through a variety of paths and channels in the oil and gas industry.
“Given that a number of your countries have been producing oil for such a long time. These companies are now discovering Guyana. They are hearing that Guyana is the new hotspot in the global oil industry. They are coming to Guyana seeking out opportunities…given that they have this developed capability from years, if not decades of providing goods and services to the oil and gas sector…A number of them came during the course of this conference,” Dr. Singh explained.
He emphasised that some businesses visited Guyana and immediately took advantage of the prospects that the country’s industry presented.
Furthermore, some are even searching for joint ventures with Guyanese businesses to capitalise on the experience they have previously established in Africa.
At the same time, they are also leveraging the advantages that Guyanese companies who meet the requirements of the Local Content Legislation enjoy on a domestic and indigenous level.
As a result, he added, they have an inherent advantage in the 40 areas that Guyana’s local content laws have designated.
He also highlighted the major corporations worldwide that participated in Guyana’s public international auction for its oil blocks, whether on their own or in consortium.
“You would have heard in the news that just a few months ago, we went out with a public international auction of oil blocks. These are additional blocks beyond the blocks which are currently in production in Guyana. So, we have a number of blocks that we put out to international auction,” the senior minister asserted.
In fact, Dr Singh indicated that some of the consortiums included African interests, which is one avenue through which they can potentially have direct participation.
At some point, Guyana will be auctioning more oil blocks for a second round as blocks are relinquished.
The minister underscored that there will be many opportunities for international nations, including those in Africa, and African businesses to take part directly in such auctions as a developer engaging in exploration and, possibly, in production and extraction in the oil and gas sector. [DPI]
