Preparing for First Oil
Last week we published the first part of the address by Natural Resources Minister, Hon. Raphael
Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman
Trotman, to participants of a two-day seminar held on November 17 and 18 which was titled: “Governance of the Petroleum Sector: Preparing for First Oil”. The Ministry had collaborated with the New Petroleum Producers Group (NPPG), an arm of Chatham House, the (British) Royal Institute of International Affairs, and NPPG had partnered with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Natural Resources Governance Institute (with offices in the UK, USA, Ghana, Peru and Jakarta) to facilitate this seminar.
The objective was to assist Guyana with establishing the most appropriate and effective institutions that will ensure good governance of our impending petroleum sector.
This discussion group, NPPG, has built a strong network among existing and emerging oil producers around the world. Through their strategically-located offices, NPPG helps emerging petroleum producers like Guyana to develop practical guidelines, structures and rules, and carry out research on foreseen challenges based on the experiences of other emerging producers.
It also facilitates information sharing and capacity building at various levels of government and its agencies through training and mentoring, while helping to devise strategies that will promote national/citizen understanding of the role the oil industry will play in the national agenda.
Today we conclude Minister Trotman’s address:
“The Government recognises the need for a highly skilled workforce. Therefore we will undertake two key initiatives, which are to revamp the public education system and to integrate the supply and demand of labour into a flexible, technical vocational education and training system.
This initiative will create our own skill pool for the industry and for the non-oil sectors while we upgrade the expertise of our professionals who are already trained. Cross sector training and education is another deliberate step to counter the dreaded and very real ‘oil curse’ and the Dutch Disease.
This precious resource of ours (oil) is a significant component of our national patrimony. It belongs to the people of Guyana. It is therefore the Government’s inescapable responsibility to ensure that this translates into our citizens’ right to work and develop. The sky is really the limit.
We have seen examples of locally grown businesses within the petroleum sector in other countries blossom to the point where they are able to offer/sell their skills and services internationally. We want no less for our own citizens.
This component is included in our local content/local participation Policy and Regulations that will soon be laid before all of Guyana and our international partners for your review.
Our aim is to provide opportunities for our citizens to participate actively from these early stages and onward. Our intent is also to create as wide an impact as possible into other local industries especially in the private sector, as evidenced by the cross section of participants (at the seminar).
Our soon to be established Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s Multi-Stakeholder Group and its supporting Secretariat are other key signals that the Government of Guyana is committed to good, transparent governance.
Issues of environmental and social safeguards (including oil spill prevention and responses) also factor prominently into this equation. The policies for regulation and management of our oil and gas sector have been designed to function within the context of Guyana’s environmental priorities. Guyana’s priorities are aligned with our commitment to international obligations and responsibilities for the post 2015 developmental agenda which include the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Our focus is on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns; taking urgent action to address climate change and its impacts; ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all; protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial eco-systems; sustainably managing forests; combating desertification; halting and reversing land degradation and biodiversity loss; and conserving and sustainably utilizing the ocean, seas and marine resources.
Guyana’s 2016-2018 Roadmap takes a comprehensive approach to the development of our oil and gas industry under the guidance of advisors and developmental partners such as those represented (at this seminar). The roadmap inculcates:
1. Implementation schedules for policies, legislation, regulations and the accompanying governance structures
2. The schedule for public engagements
3. A review of Guyana’s petroleum acreage and interests
4. Development of a local content plan that includes the transition of work and intellectual capital
5. Building appropriate infrastructure including an onshore logistics base to support offshore operations.
6. Developing an evolving framework to address the anticipated increase in commercial activities in the social services, auxiliary services, financial and others.
Guyana is new to this business of oil production and we have been fortunate to receive the high level of support and guidance from a plethora of experienced policy makers, oil producers, marketing experts, environmental pundits, business and social development craftsmen the world over. Our chief responsibility is to ensure that at every level, Guyanese citizens will be intimately involved and will ultimately reap the anticipated benefits.
Guyana must prosper, our citizens must prosper, as will their generations to come.”
