Oil blocks set aside for government-to-government partnerships – President Ali

His Excellency, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has said that the government will set aside a few oil blocks for future bilateral partnerships within the petroleum sector.

The head of state was speaking during a joint press conference with the British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller on Tuesday.

“We have some blocks that we are going to auction off. I think very soon we’re going to move to the auction of some blocks and we have some blocks set aside for what is termed government-to-government partnership,” the president said.

“Government-to-government collaboration is government working together on a common end or a common agenda,” he added.

The president related that government is looking at all its strategic partners for the oil blocks, noting that only recently Barbados embarked on a similar initiative.

He disclosed that at the appropriate time, a full elaboration as to what will constitute the ‘government-to-government’ relationship and what will be the role of each partner will be provided to the public.

“But that is something that is part of the policy mix now. The distillation of the policy mix will occur in the coming days,” he disclosed.

The development of the National Gas Strategy is expected to open up more opportunities for trade and energy security.

The president said he had a specific discussion with former United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Boris Johnson on how the two nations can partner, and encourage the UK government and private sector to be part of Guyana’s energy transformation.

“So, I would say that the oil and gas sector would be part of that government-to-government relationship and the specific discussion I had with Prime Minister Boris is about energy security for the UK.” he reiterated. 

Already, Guyana, Suriname, and Brazil are in talks on the establishment of an energy corridor and other opportunities within the oil and gas sector.