HOUSTON, TEXAS – The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at strengthening collaboration between businesses in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago’s oil and gas sectors.
The agreement was signed at the Guyana Booth during Day Two of the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, by GCCI President Kathy Smith and Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago President Priya Marajh.
GCCI is one of Guyana’s main private sector organizations and represents businesses across multiple industries, including services, manufacturing, trade and energy. The Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago is an energy services organization that represents companies operating in Trinidad and Tobago’s oil, gas and energy sector.
Smith said the partnership is intended to help Guyanese businesses build capacity as the country’s energy sector expands. Guyana’s oil industry has grown since first oil production began in the Stabroek Block in December 2019. ExxonMobil Guyana currently has four offshore oil projects producing from the block, with several more in development.
Smith noted that Trinidad and Tobago’s long history in the energy industry makes the partnership important for Guyana as local companies seek to expand their role in the sector.
“Trinidad has always been a senior country as it relates to the development of oil and gas,” Smith stated.
Trinidad and Tobago has produced oil for more than a century. Its energy services sector has supported upstream, midstream and downstream operations for decades.
Marajh said the agreement focuses heavily on knowledge sharing and building opportunities for smaller companies in both countries.
She said, “We bring a lot of capabilities in terms of knowledge transfer. But I think what we’re going to learn, and what’s important for me with this MOU is the value added that it’s going to bring to some of our smaller members and some of the partnerships that they’re able to forge with members from GCCI.”
According to Marajh, the MOU covers collaboration in training, networking, joint events and capability development for small and medium-sized enterprises.
“The MOU contains areas of collaboration, knowledge exchange, networking, partnering on events, so basically doing some events collaboratively. It talks a little bit about training as well. And a big focus of the MOU is on small and medium enterprises and developing their capabilities collaboratively,” Marajh explained.
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Smith said GCCI has seen an increase in companies entering Guyana’s oil and gas industry, leading to the establishment of a petroleum committee within the chamber.
“The Committee is there now to look at the policies that the government of Guyana has and how we can better network with our members to support them, get them to better understand the industry.”
She also said both organizations intend to work together to address trade barriers affecting exporters between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
“These two organizations have decided that we’re going to be the champion, if we could say that, in leading out on assisting Guyana to remove those trade barriers that we are experiencing, exporters are experiencing from the Trinidad side,” Smith stated.
