United States Ambassador to Guyana, Perry Holloway, says the South American country continues to receive assistance from the US in its preparation for oil production come 2020, but even this assistance has certain limitations.
During a recent interview with OilNOW, the US Ambassador made it clear that this assistance does not extend to the writing of legislation but is confined to reviewing and offering advice. “We are not writing legislation as some people have said in the press, but we do, when asked, review legislation and regulation and Government structures. We have US experts who provide comments on if this is the way it is normally done, or here is what you can do to strengthen it, and here is where the weak areas are and the Government decides what they want to take from that and what they don’t,” he said.
The US Government is also working closely with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to expand their capacity to audit large companies that will potentially come to this country as a result of the Oil and Gas sector. “So that they can make sure that all the companies in the industry are doing what they are supposed to be doing in terms of reporting revenues and paying their taxes,” the Ambassador pointed out.
The US is among several countries and entities, such as the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, The International Monetary Fund and the Commonwealth that have demonstrated a keen interest in helping Guyana to get it right.
As it relates to the Commonwealth’s support to the emerging oil and gas industry, its legal and economic experts have been advising Guyana on draft legislation for the Sovereign Wealth Fund, a draft National Upstream Oil and Gas Policy, and a revision of Guyana’s Petroleum Exploration and Production Act and Regulations.
According to the Commonwealth, this involves advising the Guyana government on how to transparently and effectively regulate the upstream oil industry.
