A change in government in South America’s newest oil producing nation Guyana is not expected to have an adverse effect on the country’s emerging oil and gas sector since both of the major political parties are seen as pro-investment, industry analyst IHS Markit has said.
IHS Markit Principal Analyst, Ford Tanner, had weighed in on the potential disruption Guyana’s elections could have on exploration and production activity offshore where US oil major ExxonMobil is operator at the prolific Stabroek Block.
Speaking in the months prior to the now infamous 100-day plus Guyana elections, Tanner had said he expects the political risk to Guyana’s upstream outlook to be negligible. “In contrast to what we’ve seen in Mexico where there has been a huge political pendulum swing…we don’t anticipate that at all for Guyana.”
Turning his attention to the two major political parties – the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition and the opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Tanner said both are pro-industry and as such a change in government is not likely to be disruptive to oil and gas investment.
“There are two political factions in Guyana. Both of them are very pro-investment. Both of them recognize that the economic fortunes of the country hinge on continued favourable approach to E&P…Our view there is that even if there is a change of government following the election, you are going to have basically the same approach as you have seen over the last years.”
Tanner said this is important since a lot remains to be done in setting up the infrastructure and framework for the oil and gas sector which is now getting off the ground.
A 33-day long recount of the ballots in the country’s contentious March 2 election has shown that the PPP/C secured a majority of the votes. Pending a declaration by the electoral body, the PPP/C is expected to form the next government, although the outcome, marred by controversy, remains uncertain and could still be further delayed.
