Guyana Basin Summit: Industry leader touts’ benefits of countries collaborating on energy corridor

…says carbon mitigation should be a factor in new exploration activities

Collaboration between countries on an energy pathway, could maximize the benefits of natural gas for producers. This is according to International Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) Executive Director Iman Hill.
The IOGP Executive Director was at the time speaking at the Guyana Basin Summit being held at the Pegasus Hotel. Hill noted that the possibilities of a bloc of countries shaping their energy policies as a collective, are endless.
“In the Americas, each country has its own strategies for gas, as it does for emissions and carbon capture and storage. So, it’s a long way from an integrated energy pathway. Currently, the approach is based on local level policy. Just imagine another energy bloc of countries that can shape their economic development, collectively.”

According to Hill, carbon mitigation should be a consideration in any investment decision to explore for oil, as it was in the Stabroek block, when it was agreed that ExxonMobil would make gas available for Guyana’s Gas to Shore project. The industry leader explained that energy security will hinge on attracting investments and according to her, part of that will relate to incentives.
“To build resilient eco-systems of any kind there needs to be collaboration. We should strive to create a new normal, where increasingly we only explore and produce new oil and gas, where we assess every opportunity to attach an integrated carbon solution to it. Whether that’s carbon capture and storage, hydrogen or some other meaningful option,” she said.
“If you construct a competitive tax regime with supporting regulatory framework, you’ll set yourself on a strong path developing a strong industry that will not only drive your region’s socio-economic development, but will also lead to securing energy independence. Energy security has certainly shot up the priority list of all governments,” Hill added.
Guyana is currently in talks with a number of countries on an energy corridor, with a regional energy strategy being crafted. The countries expected to participate in that strategy include Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago (T&T), Brazil and even Barbados, which has natural gas potential.
Ahead of a state visit to T&T in August, President Dr. Irfaan Ali had told reporters that he would be having extensive discussions with Trinidad Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to advance bilateral relations in a number of areas, including in the energy sector.
“The Prime Minister and I, in our discussions [prior], discussed this, and the Prime Minister has expressed Trinidad willingness to work with Guyana and Suriname in the development of our gas resource, and look at other opportunities in the energy sector. So that has been communicated,” President Ali had said.
“As you know, Trinidad has some ideas in relation to the gas with Guyana and Suriname, and they wanted to be part of the discussion in terms of building up of this [energy] corridor, and how what they’re doing also can be integrated into what Guyana and Suriname can do, so we can have a broad development concept in terms of the gas strategy for the region,” President Ali had also stated.
The first time President Ali spoke of Trinidad’s interest in the energy corridor initiative was back in June at the Suriname Energy, Oil & Gas Summit & Exhibition, when he had disclosed that a regional energy strategy that would connect the oil and natural gas producers in the region is being crafted.
At the time, the Guyanese Leader had said that while Guyana, Suriname and Brazil had already started talks on combining their ability to create an energy corridor and unlock the potential for a series of manufacturing and industrial development, Trinidad is also interested in working along with them in unlocking some of this potential.
There has been talk of an energy corridor for some time, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) conducting both baseline and pre-feasibility studies. Guyana is in fact a party to a Memorandum of Understanding on the Northern Arc (Arco Norte) Interconnection Project which seeks to evaluate the feasibility of a possible collaboration on the energy transmission system for the electric interconnection of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and the northern cities of Brazil. (G3)