Officials of Mitsubishi Corporation met with business representatives in Guyana on Thursday to discuss the final report of the Oil and Gas Master Plan for Guyana (OGMP), a collaborative effort between the Guyana government and Japan.
The group met with members of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) to share ideas and recommendations about the OGMP which outlines a number of objectives including the development of the domestic petroleum industry and harmonization of policies for a ‘clean and green’ society. The plan also focuses on developing feasible oil and gas utilization for exporting to the central and South American regions.
“They outlined a three-phased plan for the oil and gas industry in Guyana. The first being based on associated gas – because we have found so much crude oil, they anticipate that somewhere out there will be a huge natural gas find,” Timothy Tucker, GCCI Senior Vice President told OilNOW.
Among the priorities listed in the plan is the development of plants for natural gas, ammonia/urea as well as methanol.
Tucker said of particular interest is a recommendation for Guyana to develop refining capacity; a position which the Chamber has advocated for in the past.
“This study actually says it is quite feasible, and they recommend doing an oil refinery. So, they are saying for energy security improvement, domestic energy production and self-sustained energy balance in petroleum products and development of related industries and related capacity employment; on that basis they’re recommending an oil refinery be built in Guyana,” he said.
Authorities in Guyana began reviewing the OGMP back in March 2018. The Ministry of the Presidency said at the time the key objectives include; the development of Guyana’s domestic oil industry, the creation of a balance in the domestic usage and exportation of products from indigenous oil and gas, the harmonization of the industry in keeping with Guyana’s ‘green’ development agenda and the quantifying of the economic feasibility of the plans.
Then Foreign Minister, Carl Greenidge had disclosed that Japan had agreed to fund technical work by Mitsubishi and Chiyoda Corporation. “…what they have done is to look at what we have done by way of resource, look at the plan that ExxonMobil, CNOOC and Hess have for the petroleum and gas that has been discovered and to work out, given world prices, given that we also have renewable energy and so on, how best to move forward with the produce that will be landed in 2020,” Greenidge had pointed out.
Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman had told OilNOW that the plan does not focus on policy in the country’s petroleum sector but on technical issues such as refining of crude and use of natural gas by-products.
