Maxar Technologies, a world-renowned provider of comprehensive space solutions and precise, geospatial intelligence, today announced that it inked a three-year contractual agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to provide environmental monitoring services for both offshore and terrestrial applications.
Guyana Standard understands that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will utilize Maxar’s [Crow’s Nest Maritime Monitoring and Security products](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.maxar.com%2Fproducts%2Fcrows-nest&esheet=53332918&newsitemid=20230221005183&lan=en-US&anchor=Crow%26%238217%3Bs+Nest+Maritime+Monitoring+and+Security+products&index=1&md5=b342b2a5c630f90d01960bc55696bfd5 “”) to support offshore petroleum monitoring. The EPA will use the Crow’s Nest Maritime Tipping and Cueing Service, which leverages Maxar’s very-high resolution optical satellites, to monitor drilling vessels for regulatory compliance and safety. It will also use the Crow’s Nest Multi-Sensor Oil Detection Service to identify potential spills.
The agreement with Guyana marks Maxar’s first Crow’s Nest contract in Latin America and the Caribbean and is an important milestone in the application of Crow’s Nest to the environmentally critical use case of monitoring offshore petroleum activity.
Guyana’s economy has grown significantly as a result of the influx of capital from newly discovered offshore oil and gas resources. Maxar’s monitoring capabilities will no doubt help the EPA ensure the resource is sustainably managed, environmentally safe and able to be extracted for years to come.
Also included in the agreement, the Guyana Forestry Commission will combine several Maxar capabilities to track illegal deforestation, protect mangroves and safeguard the country’s biodiversity. Products that will support this work include: [SecureWatch](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.maxar.com%2Fproducts%2Fsecurewatch&esheet=53332918&newsitemid=20230221005183&lan=en-US&anchor=SecureWatch&index=2&md5=4f67e23a1093859f61dc4ead1c008784 “”) which is cloud-based platform provides on-demand access to Maxar’s high-accuracy, high-resolution satellite imagery and analytics; and [Persistent Change Monitoring (PCM)](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.maxar.com%2Fproducts%2Fpersistent-change-monitoring&esheet=53332918&newsitemid=20230221005183&lan=en-US&anchor=Persistent+Change+Monitoring+%28PCM%29&index=3&md5=8d2d9398222c8418f1eea23ea3456e60 “”) which highlights human changes in an area and displays persistent change accessibly as a color-coded geospatial data layer.
“Maxar’s geospatial data and analytics will help MNR protect the environment for future generations while also sustainably developing the extraction of Guyana’s natural resources for long-term economic gains,” said Vickram Bharrat, Minister of Natural Resources.
Tony Frazier, Maxar’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of Public Sector Earth Intelligence in his remarks said, “We applaud Guyana’s Ministry of Natural Resources for applying our industry-leading technology to help meet its environmental goals.”
Guyana Standard understands that Maxar Technologies Inc.’s three year contract costs US$ 1,160,714.0. It will be taken from a US$20M World Bank loan which the country received back in 2019.
