Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) former Minister of Energy and Energy Affairs, Kevin Ramnarine, says he has been visiting Guyana frequently over the last five years and the one key thing that has always surprised him is the level of negativity towards the oil and gas industry, even before a drop of oil was produced.
Ramnarine, who served as T&T’s energy minister from June 2011 to September 2015, has been participating over the years in a number of conferences and workshops in the new oil producing South American country and recently served on a local content panel established by President Irfaan Ali.
“I want to say that I’ve been coming to Guyana regularly for the last five years and one of the things that always surprises me is the level of negativity towards the industry,” he said on a webinar hosted by OilNOW last week. “Before a drop of oil was produced, there was so much negativity.”
He said an examination of what Guyana has been doing over the years would show that progress is being made in key areas, notwithstanding that there will always be room for improvements and continuous interventions, as the industry evolves.
“And I think, when I look at what has happened, I mean, Guyana hasn’t done badly,” he pointed out. “When you look at local content for example, yes there’s a lot of work to do with local content and there is a lot more involvement of the Guyanese private sector that could happen, but by and large, when you look at what has happened, when you look at the amount of Guyanese that have been trained and are working on the FPSOs and the drill ships and you look at the shore base and so on and you look at what is coming potentially – more shore bases could be coming or will be coming – I think Guyana has not done badly.”
The former energy minister said that the competitive cost for producing oil in Guyana will keep the industry alive in challenging times, even in a very low oil price environment.
“I think that the cost of producing a barrel of oil in Guyana’s deep water is very competitive when you stack it up against the breakeven cost in let’s say, shallow water Trinidad. The breakeven cost of producing oil in Guyana will keep the industry alive in difficult times. So, when oil prices go into the 20s and the 30s as has happened last year, it is not something which will cause you to get a heart attack in Guyana,” he stated.
Ramnarine said going forward there is need to institutionalize the industry through the establishment of the Petroleum Commission and supporting legislation. The Guyana government has said it intends to move this process forward by the end of this year.
“There is an ongoing need to continue to educate the population and create the skills resource base, but even so, a lot of Guyanese have transition from manufacturing and from gold mining and from the bauxite industry and so on into the oil industry and the transition has happened pretty quickly,” he said. “I think it has a lot to do with the fact that…Guyanese and Trinidadians are very adaptable people. And the fact that we speak English and so on, also helps.”
Ramnarine said the steps Guyana is taking in the areas of local content development and the gas to power project will have a long-term positive impact on the country’s outlook.
“And those two things, the gas to power and the local content, are very important for the sustainable economic development of the country. So, I think that it’s so far so good,” he stated.
