As world prioritises climate mitigation: Guyana poised to be leading oil producer with least environmental damage

– Pres Ali tells Clinton Global Initiative

With the world’s dependence on fossil fuels expected to continue well into the future, President Dr Irfaan Ali has highlighted Guyana’s unique position to be the world’s leading producer of oil with the least amount of environmental damage, thanks to the Government’s environmental policies.
The Head of State was at the time being interviewed at the 2024 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting’s “Fireside Chat”. Asked if there was a future for Guyana as an oil producer when the world is transitioning away from fossil fuels, President Ali predicted that there would still be demand for oil beyond 2050 – even if it was just 25 per cent of the energy mix.
“We all know that petroleum and the petroleum industry will still have a space in the energy mix and the energy mix of the future, long into the future. In my view, long beyond 2050,” the President declared. “Now, let us say, even if that (energy) mix is 25 per cent of the global energy mix, who is going to produce the 25 per cent? Who will determine who will produce the 25 per cent? And if it is that the climate equation is the most important equation in determining who produces the 25 per cent, then guess what?
“The leading country will be Guyana. Because we’ll be producing the 25 per cent globally with the least damage to the environment. We’re not going to even utilise 20 per cent of the sequestered carbon. I’m not talking about the 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon that the forest stores. So, it’s who sets the agenda? If we look at the US and when there is greater demand, what do you do? You issue more licences.”
President Ali questioned where the developing world would get capital from to transition to renewable energy. And when comparisons were made by the interviewer between the tax regime implemented by Norway for taxing oil companies and Guyana’s, the Head of State immediately dismissed the comparison.
“You’re talking about a country that is new in oil and gas versus Norway, which has decades of oil and gas experience and revenue. Norway has decades upon decades of oil and gas revenue, which they utilise to make their economy competitive, to diversify their economy, to expand services, to open up opportunities.
“We are now into this. So, what is our priority? Our priority is to do exactly what Norway did. To invest, to ensure every single family prospers. We must have world-class healthcare, world-class education, world-class infrastructure. We must have the opportunity to invest in much-needed infrastructure that will expand our eco-tourism.”

Priorities
Further, Ali noted that they would now have the opportunity to ensure that Guyana can become the breadbasket of the Caribbean. This includes the country investing in drainage and irrigation, farm-to- market roads and other supporting infrastructure.
“When we get to that point, that Norway had the opportunity to get to, after decades of revenue earned from oil and gas, then we can implement anything Norway implemented and even do it better,” he further said.
Only recently, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had released long-term projections for the global oil industry, predicting that global demand for oil will reach 118.9 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2045.
This increased growth rate for demand, according to OPEC, will be fuelled by growth in India, Africa and the Middle East, coupled with the lagging transition to electric vehicles and clean energy.
In Guyana, ExxonMobil and its partners are producing oil in the Stabroek Block with the help of three Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels – the Liza Destiny, the Liza Unity and the Prosperity via the Liza One, Liza Phase Two, and Payara projects.
To further develop the nascent oil and gas industry , the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government held an auction last year for eight oil blocks – two deep-sea blocks and six shallow-water blocks, with plans underway for a second such auction.
Those awarded oil blocks were a Guyanese female-led company, Sispro Inc; Total Energies EP Guyana BV in consortium with Qatar Energy International E&P LLC and Petronas E&P Overseas Ventures SDN BHD (Malaysia); Liberty Petroleum Corporation of the US and Ghana-based Cybele Energy Limited; International Group Investment Inc of Nigeria; the Stabroek Block partners – ExxonMobil Guyana Limited, Hess New Ventures Exploration Limited, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited and Delcorp Inc Guyana, which comprises Watad Energy and Communications Limited and Arabian Drilling Company of Saudi Arabia.