Guyana Oil and Gas News

ExxonMobil’s announcement a week ago that it had   made a new oil discovery offshore Guyana at the Yellowtail-1 well, marking the 13th discovery on the Stabroek Block, was not the only recent indication of the consolidation of its hold on the oil and gas sector in the hemisphere.

The interest of Guyanese businesses in the oil and gas sector is higher than anticipated, according to Director of the Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD) Patrick Henry, who says that of the 2,675 businesses registered with it over the past two years, 1,573 are local.

ExxonMobil Guyana yesterday announced the installation of its first subsea tree for its Liza Phase 1 Development Project, offshore Guyana.

Guyana could see oil exploration activity in the ultra-deepwater region picking up pace in the near future with United States oil giant Chevron set to buy Anadarko Petroleum Corp, which holds an exploration licence for the Roraima Block offshore Guyana.

The United States acknowledges that it is within Guyana’s sovereign right to renegotiate the controversial Production Sharing Agreement (PSA)  between the country and ExxonMobil and its partners if it so chooses, recently accredited US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch says.

Even as drilling exploration continues at its Yellowtail-1 site in the Stabroek Block, offshore Guyana, ExxonMobil is undertaking an environmental baseline survey of the nearby Kaieteur Block.

The GAC Logistics and Shipping (Guyana) Incorporated was officially launched on Friday. The new company is the local branch of the Dubai-based GAC Group, which is a provider of shipping, logistics and marine services and has been around since the 1950s.

NABI/KCL Oilfield Construction Services Guyana yesterday announced that it has been awarded the contract to build the new office facilities of Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) at Ogle, East Coast Demerara.

The Government of Guyana on Friday received a US$20 million loan from the World Bank to support capacity building for Petroleum Resources Governance and Manage-ment.

Optimistic that it can deliver a skills transfer system in the provision of marine logistics services to equip locals to run its operations here, United States-based marine transportation company Harvey Gulf has set up an office in Guyana.

With plans to be in Guyana for several decades, ExxonMobil is forging ahead with plans for the construction of its local headquarters at Ogle, on the East Coast of Demerara.

When the APNU+AFC administration took office in 2015, its focus in the oil and gas sector was making preparations for production and not investigating the award of oil blocks by the previous government shortly before the elections, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman says.

The participation of indigenous peoples as it relates to the oil and gas sector has been extremely limited, Governance and Rights Coordinator at the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) Laura George said when the non-profit Moray House Trust convened a civil society panel discussion on Thursday.

The issuance of a permit to ExxonMobil for its Liza Phase 2 project has hit another snag as the US$2 billion+ coverage they have secured from a United Kingdom insurance firm does not meet local insurance requirements, according to sources close to the process.

Following its two most recent finds, ExxonMobil yesterday revised its estimated gross recoverable resource from the Stabroek Block to approximately 5.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is conducting an international search for oil and gas experts as the agency prepares for first oil next year.

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry has teamed up with the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), to send a team to the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in May, to not only sell Guyana, but to secure business and investment opportunities for small entrepreneurs   here.

Former president Donald Ramotar is maintaining that he had no knowledge of ExxonMobil’s oil find in the Stabroek Block before the 2015 general elections and therefore his award of contracts to private companies shortly before should not be seen as questionable.

Attorney Melinda Jankie has expressed concern that the liability coverage submitted by ExxonMobil for its Liza Phase 2 operations in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana is not enough but Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Dr Vincent Adams has reiterated that it meets global industry standards.

Local training and recruitment firm, Strategic Recruitment Solutions (SRS), has placed 26 sailors on ships involved in the oil and gas sector since it began operating last year, Chief Executive Officer Kerri Gravesande-Bart says.