The 2017 Budget has allocated $650M to build capacity in various fields within the emerging oil and gas sector.
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan in his budget presentation on Monday, in the National Assembly pointed out that capacity building is part of a three- year development programme in the oil and gas sector.
The programme will run from 2017 to 2020 which will see capacity being built in the areas of petroleum engineering, fiscal accounting and analysis, petroleum and revenue management, and national income statistics.
Minster Jordan noted the potential for Guyana to be a regional oil and gas service hub with the right investment. “This would create a substantial number of skilled and semi-skilled employment opportunities for our people,” the Minister added.
Additionally, the government will embark on a nationwide outreach next year to enlighten citizens on the implications of the Liza discovery and to present policies and legislation within the new sector. “Apart from covering all 10 administrative regions, this outreach programme will also, engage the private sector, youth, and the diaspora, among other stakeholders,” Minister Jordan noted.
Earlier this month, the oil company ExxonMobil announced that the Liza wells located in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana have commercial quantities of oil.
The government will be investing ‘heavily in critical infrastructure, power, transportation, and logistics, among other areas’ in the coming year as it seeks to begin oil production within the next five years.
Source: GINA
