President Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has advised Guyana, with a nascent oil and gas sector, to maximize the number of Guyanese involved in the sector but also take cognizance of key environmental precautions such as reducing flaring offshore.
The President made this remark in his address at the opening of the 2022 International Energy Conference & Exhibition Guyana at the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, on February 15, 2022, with these considerations among a list of 12 recommendations made to delegates at the conference.
“I am very pleased that Ghana Ministry of Energy and its petroleum agencies, as well as Guyana’s Ministry of Natural Resources, have already commenced technical cooperation on local content development, which has culminated in the passage of Guyana’s Local Content Bill 2021, Act 18 of December 2021.
“To ensure energy sustainability, it is critical that we manage socio-economic and environmental benefits,” President Akufo-Addo said, adding that Ghana looks forward to working with Guyana to boost its technical capabilities through internships and secondments.
Furthermore, the President urged that Guyana strive towards guaranteeing that equitable development is facilitated through the massive oil revenues and by exploiting natural gas resources.
This, he posited, can be done through “proper legislative guidelines” and by ensuring that the petroleum revenues are used efficiently in the national budget for key developmental priorities.
President Akufo-Addo also emphasized that Guyana must continue to pursue “ambitious environmental goals”. Already, Guyanese authorities have maintained that there will be a strong focus on safeguarding the country’s massive forest resources– which are about the size of England– and help protect against the harmful effects of climate change.
Minimize Flaring of Gas
While the country has recently begun making significant revenues from its production of oil and gas offshore Guyana, aimed at ensuring these revenues lead to the country’s development, some environmental concerns have been raised.
Of particular consideration is ExxonMobil’s flaring of natural gas from its Liza Destiny oil ship at the Liza Phase 1 Development. This excess flaring is harmful to the environment but the company has been paying the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) $45 per tonne of excess carbon dioxide (CO2e) emitted.
This flaring charge, notwithstanding, President Akufo-Addo suggested that Guyana should ensure it reduces its flaring of natural gas, in light of the damaging effects to the environment.
More importantly, the President also suggested that Guyana “maximise benefits by using local resources and companies in all facets of the value chain”.
In his earlier remarks, the President explained that Ghana enacted a Local Content law that facilitated a mandatory involvement of Ghanaians– professionals and companies– in all areas of oil and gas value chain.
“It is not about nationalisation but a vehicle to partnering investors with locals… [and] ensuring social harmony and cohesion,” the President stressed.
President Akufo-Addo highlighted that Guyana can learn a lot from Ghana’s history in the oil and gas sector including enacting legislation to ensure transparency and the economic benefit to all citizens.
Guyana and Ghana have been strengthening strategic cooperation and bilateral ties aimed at Guyana benefitting from substantial support in developing its oil and gas framework since last year, and this appears to be yielding fruits.
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