Guyana will receive revenue from the first day of oil production, ExxonMobil’s Upstream Operations Manager Doug McGehee said on Thursday night.
McGehee was speaking at Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) 2017 Business Magazine launch, which was held at the Marriott Hotel.
Before a gathering of more than 100 persons, McGehee provided a recap of everything the company has done since 2015. He recalled the exploration of Liza 1, Liza 2, Liza 3, Payara 1, Payara 2, Snook and Skip Jack wells. Collectively, he said, the reservoirs of all together have between 2.25 billion and 2.75 billion barrels of oil and when production starts, the infrastructure will be able to output some 100,000 to 120,000 barrels per day.
He related that it will have positive impacts on the economy, including some that should be seen already. “The big thing though, is the revenue that comes from the project. When the project starts, the government gets revenue from day one,” he said. “I hope you’ve already seen some of the impacts. We opened a Centre for Local Business Development, which is something we’ve done in other places of the world. It’s trying to match up potential contracts with potential local businesses,” he added.
McGehee also took the opportunity to explain that because of the wells being in deep water, it was not going to take thousands of workers to keep the infrastructure running on a daily basis. “This doesn’t take thousands of people. We are going to have couple hundred people and when we are drilling and installing all the kit it’s going to go up to a thousand or so. But as soon as production is up and running, it’s going to drop down back to couple hundred,” he said, while adding that besides the direct impacts, there will also be other indirect impacts to the economy and employment.
McGehee said the company was ecstatic to be working on a world-class reservoir and that was going to do everything to ensure that first oil comes in 2020 and will continue looking for more oil at the other locations.
President of the GCCI Indar Deodat said his organisation will be working closely with the Ministry of Natural Resources to ensure that there is always constructive criticism about decisions. He highlighted the draft Local Content Policy and the new Petroleum Commission Bill as being two of the important things that the GCCI is going to be vigilant about to ensure that the model used will affect everyone and every sector positively.
“We have the potential to become a wealthy nation,” he said, while pointing out that there is a possibility that the citizens will witness an “economic explosion” and an increase to the Gross Domestic Product of between 400% and 2000%.
Deodat also said he is imploring the government to ensure that the funds from the oil wealth are spent wisely on the country’s infrastructure, healthcare, education and ITC sectors and that the government should learn from other country’s mistakes and not be dependent on “one or two sectors.”
The eighth edition of the chamber’s magazine, the Promise of Oil, was revealed at the end of the event.
