OPPORTUNITIES IN GUYANA OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
During this period and up to 2024, there will be a significant increase in the demand for goods and services to sustain the level of operation in this industry. This position, open immense opportunities for Guyana, Guyanese, the Caribbean and extended to other parts of the world.
The opportunities in the Guyana Oil and Gas Industry straddles across two areas which are, Business Opportunities and Career Opportunities.
Business Opportunities
The business opportunities that are where firms and companies position themselves to readily supply the industry with some form of goods or services. The Guyana Private Sector has to position itself to take advantage of these enormous opportunities as part of Guyana Local Content. According to information received, to adequate service Lisa Phase 1, there is a need to dock and load at least twelve (12) service vessels at the same time. Presently, Guyana do not have the capacity to do this so there is an immediate need for the development of more shore base facilities.
In addition to the shore base facility, there are also opportunities for the provision of goods and services in the following areas:
-
Foods Supplies
-
Fresh Water
-
Storage and Delivery in Fuel & Lubricants
-
Storage and Delivery of Barite and Other Chemicals
-
Storage and Mixing of Marine Cements
-
Storage and Delivery of Drill Fluids
-
Stock Piling and re-certification of Drill Pipes
-
Waste Management Services
-
Supply of Personal Protection Equipment
-
Spares and Accessories
These are some of the main categories of business opportunities available for investors.
As known, the oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major sectors: upstream, midstream, and downstream. The downstream sector is the refining of petroleum crude oil and the processing and purifying of raw natural gas, as well as the marketing and distribution of products derived from crude oil and natural gas.
There are also opportunities for Guyana to look at the downstream activities in this industry, hence, the debate of Guyana establishing its own Oil Refinery comes in.
OIL REFINERY
There are ongoing discussions and interests with regard to the establishment of a refinery in Guyana. Pedro Hass, a consultant from the British-based international think-tank Chatham House, did an assessment and concluded that building a 100,000 barrel per day oil refinery in Guyana could cost up to $5 billion USD and that such an enterprise would yield a net negative outcome of USD2-3 billion per annum.
Yet, many, very thoughtful, voices have argued that such an undertaking is essential to our national development project, citing a range of promising economic and financial outcomes and numerous examples of countries, not unlike Guyana, that have built and successfully operated refineries.
Whilst there are many thoughts about the financial feasibility of an Oil refinery in Guyana, we are of the view that Guyana needed the by-products of the refinery to develop its Agriculture Sector and its much needed Infrastructure Development to support other economic sectors which cannot optimally preform due to infrastructure problem.
Career Opportunities
There are several career opportunities that are available in this industry with many more to come in the very near future. Guyanese and the Educational Institutions have to prepare themselves to take advantage of these opportunities. There is a dire need for the re-tooling of ourselves so as to fit in this new industry. According to the ExxonMobil website, there are numerous opportunities available in the following areas:
-
Commercial & Business
-
Engineering
-
Finance
-
Geoscience
-
Human Resource
-
Information Technology
-
Law
-
Operations
-
Projects
-
Research and Technology
-
Safety, Security, Health and Environment
-
Technical and Administrative Support
The above two areas have to be dissected into several sub-areas to see the volumes of opportunities available.