SOL launches motor oil made from natural gas
There have been positive efforts on the Government’s part to push tourism in Guyana, says Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Roraima Captain Gerry Gouveia.
The Captain was last week responding to a question posed by a member of the media regarding his perspective on Government’s role in pushing tourism in Guyana.
“I would say we have seen some movement by government and for the first time in the history of Guyana, the Government of Guyana has actually contracted a company to start looking at the marketing of Guyana. They have also contracted a high level qualified executive director for the Tourism Authority. I see those as two positive moves,” Gouveia said.
“Our tourism arrivals in Guyana and real tourism arrivals, I’m not talking about Guyanese coming/ returning home but bona fide tourists arriving on our soil still linger around 10-15,000 a year which is a joke and to get it where it needs to be, we need to spending a minimum of $US5-10M a year to market this beautiful and amazing country called Guyana with amazing people and amazing tourism potential,” Gouveia said.
“Out of the 7 billon SOL Guyana Inc on March 27th launched Shell’s new motor oil formulation – the fully synthetic Helix Ultra range of premium lubricants manufactured from natural gas with patented Shell PurePlus Technology.
A press release from SOL said that Shell Helix Ultra is the company’s most technologically advanced lubricant to date and the first motor oil designed from natural gas.
Liz Wyatt, General Manager of SOL Guyana said the new motor oil “will give motorists in Guyana access to Shell’s latest and most advanced motor oil designed to deliver an exciting range of key benefits which meet the needs of modern engines”.
Ayanna Watson, Commercial and Lubricants Manager said that the launch “marks the culmination of 40 years of research in gas-to-liquid technology at Shell lubricants technology centres worldwide”.
The SOL release added that fuel economy benefits vary with viscosity grade but that certain products within the new range “can deliver an improvement of up to three percent in fuel economy”.
Shell Helix motor oils are distributed in Guyana by SOL Guyana Inc.
people in this world, 95% of them don’t even know we … exist; everyone knows us for Jonestown and now they know us for oil but the people and hospitality of these people, We as Guyanese are doing ourselves an injustice by not telling the world what a wonderful country we have. The only people who can impact this is the government by putting real money into the marketing of Guyana,” he added.
But while the CEO applauds the government’s efforts, he noted that he will not sit around and wait on government alone.
“I also want to say that the private sector and I personally will not wait on the government any longer. For example, we have already started the shopping tourism in Guyana with the Cubans and we have in excess of a 1000 people arriving on Guyanese soil every week in shopping tourism which is (producing) US$155M yearly and this has nothing to do with government, this is the private sector taking the bulk and running with it.
“We in the private sector understand that we have to work in partnership with the Government, but the private sector, and I would particularly talk about Roraima we are going to continue to work with our private sector colleagues in trying to build on what we have. I am not going to wait on the government but I am seeing positive sign,” he added. could end up destroyed as has already happened in other regions of Guyana. It is time that the government move beyond lip-service and implement the sustainable solutions proposed by the indigenous people of the area”, the statement said.
In February this year, the 4.5 million cubic metres water reservoir at Nappi was handed over to Region Nine with the expectation that it would relieve drought conditions in the area. The water reservoir, according to the Department of Public Information, was completed in 2017. It was done as a partnership between the government and Conservation International. Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman during the commissioning ceremony told the gathering that the reservoir, which was completed in approximately six months, should be used to enhance the livelihood of Rupununi residents. The reservoir was built after the Rupununi region suffered a severe drought in 2015/2016. Trotman said that the catchment area is part of government’s commitment to ensuring the residents are never so adversely affected by a drought again. There was no discussion at that point about the possible impact of the reservoir on the Rupununi wetlands.