Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat made it clear on Tuesday that the Government of Guyana is open to collaborating with all Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries when it comes to the oil and gas sector.
Bharrat pointed out that even as Guyana develops its oil and gas sector, it is also open to partnering with neighbouring countries either beginning exploration, like Barbados, or already producing oil, like Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). In fact, he noted that such a collaboration is already underway in the Caribbean.
“Yes, we are serious about collaboration. Not only Trinidad, but Barbados they’re planning to do some exploration offshore. Suriname, as you know, they’ve made discoveries. And still doing exploration. And we’re in close proximity, Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Suriname. And Northern Brazil to an extent.”
“But we’re focusing on the Caricom countries now, because there’s already the collaboration between our sister Caricom countries. So, it’s not only Trinidad. And we’re open to collaborating with all the Caricom countries, the ones doing exploration or producing oil and gas,” the Minister said.
Recently, Bharrat had cause to shut down the prospect of Guyana using T&T to refine oil. While he had made it clear that Guyana has much to learn from T&T, the country will not be going the route of refining oil in the twin island republic. The Minister expounded on this, explaining why using Trinidadian refineries would not be an economically viable move for Guyana.
“We’ve already started moving towards building a refinery in Guyana. So, it’s not like we refused Prime Minister Rowley because of any other reason other than we are moving towards having a refinery. You would have seen the RFP; we have received nine proposals. We are currently evaluating those proposals. So, we’ve already started the process of having a refinery in the country.”
“So, if we [have] it in country then quite honestly, it makes no sense we refine out of Guyana. Because we still have to take it to another country, have it refined and bring back that product to Guyana rather than doing it right here in Guyana. It makes truly good economic sense to do it in country,” the Minister added.
Refineries are the second stage in the oil production process, following the extraction of crude oil from the earth. The refinery being built in Guyana, will have the capacity to produce 30,000 barrels of oil per day and is expected to be completed by 2025.
In response to Requests for Proposals (RFPs), nine companies have submitted bids for the design, finance, and construction of the oil refinery, which will be located at the mouth of the Berbice River. The plan for the refinery’s construction ties into the Government’s vision of promoting value-added production and securing energy security both for Guyana and the Caribbean.
It is also an integral part of the Government’s developmental plan for Region Six.
An oil refinery is an industrial plant that transforms crude oil into various usable petroleum products, such as diesel, gasoline, lubricants and heating oils like kerosene.
Once the refinery at Berbice becomes operational, Guyana will be able to sell crude oil components to various industries for a broad range of purposes, including fuels for transportation, heating, paving roads, and generating electricity and raw materials for chemical manufacturing.
This would attract global investments due to soaring fuel prices worldwide, the increased cost of heating as time goes by, and a lack of adequate refining capacity to process crude into gasoline and diesel.
Nearby Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, The Netherlands Antilles, Cuba, Jamaica, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Barbados and Suriname possess oil refineries as well.
