Head of Guyana’s Department of Energy (DE) Dr Mark Bynoe says a large part of the Department’s engagement with oil companies is their contribution to education as part of the larger agenda for the South American country’s national development.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Guyana International Petroleum Exhibition and Summit (GIPEX) on Tuesday, Dr Bynoe said this engagement is about the “development of general skill-sets” as part of the country’s preparation for oil and gas and its spin-off industries.
He spoke of the recent signing of a $5 million CDN agreement with CGX Resources and mentioned similar discussions with Halliburton. DE is also engaging Tullow in this regard and has been having similar discussions with ExxonMobil, Dr. Bynoe said.
The US oil major, operator at the 6.6 million acres Stabroek Block, has been heavily supporting education initiatives in Guyana through engagements with institutions such as the University of Guyana and support for the country’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme.
Those companies, Dr. Bynoe said, have been putting money into capacity building on many levels – tertiary and technical and vocational. He spoke of the intention to bring oil and gas knowledge to the primary school level so that persons are conversant in the new and emerging industry from an early age.
The DE Director said while much of the discussions nationally have been focused on oil and gas, not much of it is addressing where the country wants to go. “There is still a dearth of skillsets that we need to enhance inclusive of the [engineering and scientific fields]. Mathematics and STEM are big things for us and if we are going to talk about utilization of these resources then we have to have the capacity, otherwise what will happen is Guyana will encounter significant leakages from its economy,” he stated.
The country is expected to begin producing oil by next month at the Liza Phase 1 Development where ExxonMobil made its first discovery back in 2015. The company has since made a total of 14 discoveries offshore Guyana, amounting to more than 6 billion barrels of oil.
