Guyana signs petroleum agreement with major US oil Exploration and Production Company
GINA, Tuesday, June 26, 2012 -- Source - GINA
The Government of Guyana has signed an Agreement with Anadarko Guyana Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (Anadarko) a United States of America based company to undertake exploration in the deep waters of Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
Given Guyana’s abundance of natural resources, the Company has sought to engage the Government of Guyana to conduct exploration activities in 2011 and had submitted technical proposals and held a series of discussions with senior government officials including President Donald Ramotar. The discussions resulted in an agreement to commence studying available data for the concession acreage, which will be referred to as the “Roraima Block,” in greater detail with a view to identify leads that could result in prospects favourable for drilling to locate potential resources of petroleum.
Minister Robert Persaud presents copies of the signed agreement between the Government of Guyana and Anadarko to Mr. Andrew Mehlhop, Exploration Manager, South America, Anadarko. Also in photo are: Mr. Brent Hardt, United States Ambassador to Guyana, Mr. Richard Lapin, Project Advisor, International Negotiations, Anadarko, Mr. Joslyn McKenzie, Permanent Secretary, MNRE, Major General (rtd), Mr. Joseph Singh, Chairman, Board of Directors, GGMC, Ms. Karen Livan, Commissioner, GGMC, Mr. Newell Dennison, Manager, Petroleum Division, GGMC and other officials.
Anadarko is among the world’s largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies with approximately 2.54 billion barrels of oil equivalent in proved reserves at year-end 2011.
Further, the signing of the agreement comes at a time when drilling on several fronts have occurred. Only recently a licence was awarded to NABI Oil and Gas Inc. to undertake drilling on the coast of Guyana.
In addition, the Cabinet has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment to establish a Petroleum Advisory Board to overlook the Oil and Gas sector, while the Commonwealth Sector is reviewing Guyana’s regulations governing the petroleum sector to make it more investor friendly to ensure Guyana benefits from the opportunities of finding oil.
The government is also collaborating with a number of external partners including the US, Canada, and Trinidad and Tobago to enhance its capabilities in the development of the oil and gas sectors.
The Government of Guyana will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure necessary precautions and environmental safeguards are in place to develop a sustainable oil and gas industry.
