Petroleum investors are not worried about the current political climate which is characterized by the uncertainty of when General and Regional Elections will be held.
This was recently noted by Head of the Energy Department Dr. Mark Bynoe.
The official said that initially, some investors had asked about the implications for the sector when the No-Confidence Motion was taken before the National Assembly. Dr. Bynoe said that after certain assurances were given, “everything went back to normal.”
The Energy Department Head said, “For example, we wanted to have the Guyana International Petroleum Business Summit (GIPEX) in March 2019 but we are still receiving multiple requests to attend… So it has been pushed to the third quarter of 2019.”
Further to this, Dr. Bynoe said that oil firms operating offshore Guyana are accelerating their drilling programmes for 2019. He listed three of these companies to be Tullow in the Orinduik Block, CGX in the Corentyne Block and Repsol in the Kanuku Block.
As it relates to the effect of the political climate on the work of the Energy Department, Dr. Bynoe said, “We are technocrats and much of what we are aiming at is based on technocratic decisions. As for the revision of the respective laws needed for the effective governance of the sector, that is outside of our control but those matters which are within our control such as handling the cost recovery audit and Field Development Plans (FDPs), those will go on…”
The Energy Department head said that he and his team will press ahead with the work plan for 2019 which includes the review and completion of several policies.
The official added, “Not because there is political impasse it means that we are in a state of paralysis. We will continue to do our jobs until we are instructed otherwise. We are public servants…”
