For Guyana to make the best of its oil riches, it will need to strengthen its technical capacity to govern the industry as quickly as possible.
To this end, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), Iman Hill said her organisation stands ready to help Guyana in more ways than one.
During the first session of the recently concluded Guyana Basins Summit (GBS), Hill explained that the Association represents the global oil and gas industry and brings together more than 2,000 experts from over 80 member organisations, including 25 national oil companies. The organisation, she said, also helps to ensure safe, efficient, and sustainable energy supply for a low-carbon future.
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Hill said, “Our work over the last almost 50 years has driven performance improvement in safety and environmental management, enabled reductions in cost and schedule in capital projects, as a result of our engineering and standardisation work programme… So, there’s a lot IOGP can share with this region as it sets its path to developing a world-class oil and gas industry.”
Expounding on areas that may be of interest to Guyana, Hill said it is evident that robust collaboration and engagement between industry, government and academia is key to building capacity for the future.
Furthermore, diversity, equity, and inclusion, together with the overall employee experience must become an embedded feature of workforce strategies. The Petroleum Engineer said IOGP offers access to 80+ member organisations that have much to share about their developmental journeys. “We welcome further engagement to help advance the economic development and prosperity of this region,” the official said.
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With Guyana and Suriname accelerating offshore operations, Hill said safety should be concretised via mutual agreements. In this regard, Hill said IOGP’s Safety Committee, which gathers annual safety performance data to lead and facilitate industry-wide activities, and its Wells Expert Committee, which assesses, shares and monitors industry response to global well control incidents and learnings, are just some of the ways the Association can facilitate collaboration on this crucial topic.
Considering that building a resilient supply chain is crucial to ensuring flexibility in the face of unforeseen risks, Hill said this will no doubt be a matter of priority for Guyana. Hill said IOGP can help here too.
She said, “We have a Joint Industry Programme, JIP33, which develops standardised equipment specifications that enable the industry supply chain to become more efficient, cheaper and faster. Since its creation, over 50 specifications have been published that are now being adopted and implemented by operators on major projects.” Hill said benefits in cost and schedule are already being demonstrated by third-party independent case studies.
The CEO said these are no doubt, “exciting times for Guyana.” She said that the country unequivocally has all the tools at its disposal to be a model State with its resources.
