Bynoe urges Berbicians to prepare for oil and gas
Head of the Department of Energy (DoE) Mark Bynoe told Berbicians on Friday that they must work to prepare themselves for opportunities that will come from the oil and gas sector, since the country has just scratched the surface.
“We are sitting not just on a gold mine, but we have the lottery ticket and it is up to us when we wish to cash it in,” Bynoe said during an interactive session at the Berbice High School in New Amsterdam. He added that Guyana has only begun to “scratch the surface.” As such, he said, relevant systems and procedures must be put in place so that the entire country can benefit.
“We have factored discovery in excess of five billion recoverable barrel of oil. We also have had a fair amount of associated gas. We expect that by first quarter of 2020, we will start seeing oil being produced for Guyana,” he said, adding that the gas also found, can transform Guyana’s energy sector.
Bynoe said that the sector must be properly managed through recruitment and institutional strengthening. He noted the criticisms for their hiring of external expertise but said that since the sector is a new one, such is needed. “It is to align Guyanese or to attach Guyanese with those external expertise that ultimately the capacity is being built of our people that we can then transition to manage these for ourselves,” he said.
The DoE head informed that the first Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel which can store one million barrels of oil at a time, is expected to be in Guyana by the third quarter of this year. A second FPSO expected subsequently will be twice the size of the first one, he said.
He said that Guyanese are being trained to operate the FPSO vessel even though it is not yet in the country’s waters. Twentyfive persons have so far been trained and that they are looking at training another 25 before the end of 2019 since an estimated 100-150 persons would be needed for the workforce on the vessel. They are aiming to have the workforce be at least 75 per cent Guyanese, he said.
According to Bynoe, a university degree is not necessarily required but the fundamentals of a technical education is what is needed to seek employment.
He revealed that operators have just completed a needs assessment which has identified where the critical skills are needed. This allows the department to embark on more targeted and strategic training, he said.
Meanwhile, Bynoe said he has seen increased investors’ confidence in the local economy and noted the need to further boost this. He also spoke about the multiplier effects from the revenue garnered. “Through providing greater confidence for persons to invest, through allowing persons to affirm Guyana’s status as an attractive investment destination, we have to ensure that we are positioning ourselves not just for today but for tomorrow and what is yet to come,” he said.