Canadian oil and gas trade mission to arrive next week

– technical cooperation MoU to be signed on Monday

By Jarryl Bryan

A Canadian oil and gas trade mission is expected to arrive in Guyana for a visit next week, as international interest in partnerships in Guyana’s burgeoning oil and gas sector continues to grow.
This information was relayed by the Canadian High Commission. The Commission is understood to have played a key role, along with the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), in arranging the trade mission.
The mission will comprise approximately 50 persons hailing from the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. They will arrive in Guyana on October 15

for a three-day visit. According to the High Commission, it is hoped the visit will lead to partnerships in the sector between local and Canadian companies.
“Canadian companies are hoping to leverage partnerships with appropriate Guyanese businesses, and work with them to access opportunities in the oil and gas sector. Guyana presents world-class, deep-water petroleum prospects which offer business opportunities… the development of potential partnerships between the two jurisdictions could serve to build strong business relationships, transfer technology, and skills development to support the growth of Guyana’s offshore oil and gas industry,” the Commission stated.
It was pointed out by the High Commission that Newfoundland companies have been servicing Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels for over 15 years. In addition, the High Commission noted that companies from this province have also been servicing rigs and drill ships for 40 years.
“The experience of Newfoundland can be a great potential resource to Guyana in developing its offshore industry through working with experienced partners (Government and the Private Sector), suppliers and service companies. This trade mission will expose Canadian companies to the market opportunities, investment

regime and qualified local companies.”
“The local support for the trade mission has been overwhelming. This highlights the willingness of Guyanese to partner with Canadians, which is largely due to the Canadian model of leveraging local partnerships through building partners’ capabilities to access together the opportunities in this nascent sector,” the Commission added.

Canadian MoU
Meanwhile, New Foundland and Labrador’s Natural Resources Minister, Siobhan Coady, will be present in Guyana and will also be attending events associated with the trade mission’s visit. The Commission also revealed that Minister Coady will be signing a technical cooperation agreement with the Government of Guyana, on behalf of her province on Monday.
There have been several trade missions since the discovery of oil, including one from the United States of America and Barbados. There are also plans for a British trade mission next year.
With several Canadian companies already involved in oil and natural gas exploration activities in Guyana, the visit by the Natural Resources Minister of Newfoundland provides yet another indication of Canada’s interest in playing a pivotal role in the economic exploitation of the local energy sector.
It was only recently that Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) signed a memorandum of understanding on energy sector cooperation of its own, which saw Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Dr Keith Rowley visiting Guyana for the first time with a delegation of Cabinet Ministers.
Guyana is now home to the world’s biggest new deep water oil discovery. US oil giant ExxonMobil has been keen to push development of the oil reserves. Production could begin in 2020, with the production of some 500,000 barrels of oil a day.