New oil producer Guyana has started to receive revenue from the sale of its offshore oil resources and government officials say these sums, which are set to increase exponentially in the coming years, will play a vital role in raising the living standards of the country’s 770,000 people.
“We just have one FPSO out there and…at the end of this year we’ll have close to 200 million US dollars from that one FPSO. The other two FPSOs for Liza 2 and Payara are double the capacity of the one that is operating out there right now,” Vickram Bharrat, Minister of Natural Resources, told OilNOW. “That by itself would show the amount of revenue that will be coming in.”
With 18 discoveries made at the Stabroek Block since 2015 amounting to more than 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources, the South American country is on track to become one of the top oil producers in the Latin America/Caribbean region this decade.
“So, we have one [development] started, Liza 2 is on the way…that one is in 2022. Then we have Payara…that one is in 2024. We can possibly have Yellowtail/Redtail in 2026. So, we’ll have four FPSOs out there in the next 5 years from now,” Mr. Bharrat pointed out. “That is amazing for Guyana. We’ll be one of the largest oil producing nations in this hemisphere.”
He pointed out that with the small population of the country, “everyone stands to benefit from these resources” and government intends to ensure that the revenues are managed with full transparency and accountability.
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, told reporters last week at a press conference the revenue stream to the country in the early years of production will be modest, but is set to increase exponentially.
“For the next three, four years or so, we are not going to get beyond maybe four, five hundred million a year, which is a hundred billion [Guyana] dollars or so,” Mr. Jagdeo said. “But in the latter years, I see an escalation of money, maybe 2026…, that period, that’s where you start seeing a huge escalation in how much comes into the country or to the Treasury.”
The Vice President pointed out that investment of these sums can generate jobs and more opportunities for Guyanese.
“We have to get all the other sectors to work again,” he stated.
