Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin hopes to use a Rice University forum in Houston, Texas next Tuesday to pique the interest of investors and promote opportunities available in Guyana as he discusses the emerging oil and gas sector.
Gaskin is the keynote speaker for the event organised by the university’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. He will discuss opportunities for oil, gas and infrastructure development in Guyana. Following his address, panelists including Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission head Newell Dennison, Schlumberger’s Managing Director of the Caribbean Sean Herrera, and Senior Director of FTI Consulting Jamie McInerney, will further explore oil and gas prospects, according to details provided by the institute on its website.
“This is simply an opportunity to promote Guyana; that we are open for business and that we have an agenda that is to promote some of our traditional industries and how we would like to see this country progress…,” Gaskin told Stabroek News, when contacted.
He said that Minister of Public Telecommunications Cathy Hughes will also be attending the event, slated to be held in the James A. Baker III Hall, at the university’s Houston, Texas, campus. The event is being sponsored by the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies with support from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and assistance from Hughes, Fields & Stoby (USA) PLLC, TOTALTEC Oilfield Services and Relocaring2Guyana.
It is unclear what form of support and assistance, respectively, the companies listed would be giving. Gaskin emphasised that the members of the Guyana delegation are not being paid for their attendance, but their flight and accommodation expenses are covered.
The Minister of Public Telecommunications’ husband, attorney Nigel Hughes, is a director in Hughes, Fields & Stoby (HFS) and Relocaring2Guyana. HFS’s American partner, Greg Clark, who Nigel Hughes has said worked with Occidental Petroleum Company as that organisation’s Legal Manager, and who now leads the HFS team in Houston, is also a director at Relocaring2Guyana along with his wife, Christine Clark.
Merrill Lynch, the investment arm of Bank of America, has expressed to the government of Guyana its interest in this country’s Sovereign Wealth Fund and met and held discussions with the Governor of the Central Bank last October.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge had told a press conference that the company wanted to “be briefed on what we are doing in relation to oil and petroleum and how they might help.” Merrill Lynch, he had said, was interested in speaking to those who are responsible for setting up and organising the fund. He said that they were directed to the Central Bank and Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, but Jordan was unable to meet them.
The investment arm, Greenidge had said, has capacity and extensive experience in the management of the equivalent of sovereign wealth funds. They did not discuss with them their interests but explained what is currently in place in relation to dealing with the fledgling oil sector.
Gaskin, meantime, told Stabroek News that he wanted to make clear that the event sponsors did not pay any member of the delegation for their attendance but provided them with economy class travel and accommodations.
He said that they were invited and accepted because government believes it is an opportunity to showcase Guyana even as this country networks for its development. “We were invited, and we believe it is a good opportunity to showcase our country,” he reiterated. Dennison, meantime, explained that his role on the panel would be to give technical support and the outlook of the petroleum sector. “I will be giving support to the extent that I can give, on any relevant technical outlook of what is going on here, well to the extent that I know of what is going on here. There is a focus on Guyana as everybody knows and I suppose (this) is one of those opportunities to give context to Guyana; the history and background and our exploration efforts. Guyana is a destination for business now…,” he said.
According to event details from the institute’s website, “Guyana’s oil and gas prospects have the potential to transform both the country and the international oil companies developing these resources. First production from Guyana’s offshore Liza field is expected in 2020, and full development could yield 500,000 barrels per day. With billions of dollars in expected annual oil revenues, Guyana will have the opportunity to spur substantial economic and social development. However, the government and industry investment requirements to bring the oil to market and provide infrastructure to support this development will be massive.”
The discussion will be moderated by Dr Francisco Monaldi, a Fellow in Latin American Policy at the Baker Institute.
