Energy multinationals will choose Guyana over T&T –Geophysicist
(Trinidad Guardian) New multinational corporations will prefer to invest in Guyana rather than T&T because of poor regulatory controls by the Ministry of Energy and lack of transparency, says geophysicist Javed Razack.
Razack, who is also director of contracts and proposals at Ramps Logistics, was speaking at a post-budget seminar, hosted by the Confederation of Regional Chambers held at the Couva Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Wednesday.
Expressing disappointment that the 2019/2020 Budget did not offer any incentives for oil and gas operators or offer opportunities linked to the Guyanese oil find, Razack said T&T will lose potential investors because of this massive development.
“When Guyana begins to produce oil from January 2020, the Guyanese government share of profit in Guyana will be US$300 million. The current revenue for the year is about US$1 billion which is a 30 per cent increase in revenue. ExxonMobil … have found 6 billion barrels of recoverable oil so far and they have explored about 20 per cent of the hydrocarbons,” Razack said.
He added, “Guyana is developing in a huge way and when you look at Trinidad with poor incentives, lack of transparency, lack of regulations, it is easy to see why a large multinational will go to Guyana or Suriname to invest, rather than to invest in Trinidad.”
Razack said investors were burdened by difficulties in doing business in T&T because of the bureaucracy at State institutions.
“We need to redesign the contractual framework, the fiscal regime as well as improve the ease of doing business with the regulatory institutions of the country like the Environmental Management Authority, (EMA), Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Energy,” he added.