Building Govt capacity, workforce incentives key in realising Guyana’s ‘first rate’ oil strategies – global policy innovator

Guyana has developed topline strategies for the management of its oil industry to stave off the resource curse that has befallen many countries, but implementation and building out a robust Government capacity will prove instrumental in achieving success.
This was the position taken by President of Goldwyn Global Strategies – an international energy advisory consultancy – and Chairman of the Atlantic Global Energy Centre’s Advisory Group, David Goldwyn during a press conference on Tuesday at the Centre for Local Business Development.
Apart from investments in Government capacity and proper regulations, Goldwyn shared that continued incentivization and workforce development must take priority.
“In Guyan

a, I think there are tremendous reasons for hope and that’s because of the lessons learned on how to get resource management right. The topline strategies of the Government are all first rate…What lies ahead is implementation and implementation is really hard. For one thing, you have to invest in Government capacity. You have to be good regulators. You have to have the right incentives for workforce development. You have to make sure that you continue to incentivise investment,” he underlined.
However, he also outlined that these points also come with caveats, meaning that Government will have to strike a good balance in its spending, investors, and how it utilises the resources to develop other sectors.
“You’re supposed to have a lot of public spendings but don’t create inflation. You want to promote local content, but not so much you deter investors from coming here in the first place. You want to grow the private sector, but you also want to make sure that you get technology from external investors that will help you be the best in class. And you want to invest in education at home but you also want people to study abroad, so they get the advantage of technical training.”
Goldwyn threw support behind the Natural Resource Fund and the Low Carbon Development Strategy, calling them textbook in proper resource management.
“The strategies that I have heard about really are textbook for how to do resource management right. First is the creation of the Natural Resource Fund. That is meant to do multiple things; one is to ensure that you don’t overinflate the economy so you can’t spend all the money that you take in. Another is to sequester some of that money for future generations and have it available as a ‘rainy’ day fund.”
“Just because you produce gas doesn’t mean you want to consume oil and gas. You’d make a lot more money exporting it so trying to have a strategy so that your electricity is cleaner, greener and less expensive over time is a smart strategy.”
The global policy innovator in energy security and extractive industry transparency added that cutting red tape and a diversification of the economy will encourage investors to look at Guyana to inject resources.
Goldwyn added investments through the National Budget 2023 on healthcare, agriculture, education, information technology and infrastructural linkages are ‘terrific’ strategies undertaken thus far.
While the oil industry has greater intensity, employment will be rooted in the traditional sectors, and he lauded Government for these investments.
He drew attention to the known fact that very few countries have been successful in managing resource wealth when it is their only source of income. These include Norway, Botswana, Malaysia and Chile. Others, however, such as Nigeria and neighbouring Venezuela have fallen prey to the resource curse.
He also reiterated that in many countries, the situation is far worse currently than before their discovery of oil.
Throughout the week, Goldwyn is expected to meet Finance Minister, Ashni Singh and other Cabinet members, the business community and stakeholders to join the conversation on managing resource wealth.
With 45 oil wells being discovered since the first discovery in 2015, Guyana has been listed as having the most discovered volumes of oil, 603 million barrels in 2023.
In the Stabroek Block, the Payara development is on track to come online by the end of 2023 with a gross production capacity of approximately 220,000 bpd.
Meanwhile Yellowtail – the fourth development – is slated for 2025 with a production capacity of some 250,000 bpd. Both these development projects have been approved by the Guyana Government.
Uaru is the fifth development and is expected to come online at the end of 2026 with a gross production capacity of approximately 250,000 bpd with first oil anticipated at the end of 2026. (G12)