Petroleum storage, not an issue for Guyana at the moment -Dr. Mark Bynoe

DPI, Guyana, Monday, May 4, 2020

Director of Energy, Dr. Mark Bynoe has put to rest the uncertainties surrounding the question of storage of that crude.

International reports indicate that the demand for oil globally is on the decline due to the novel coronavirus. Reuters has reported that a record amount of crude oil is being stored on ships around the world, some 160 million barrels of oil thus far.

During a virtual media conference on Monday morning, Dr. Bynoe told journalists that issue of storage from Guyana’s perspective is not one that arises at the moment since the country has already sold it first three cargoes.

“It is not possible for us to now be talking about storing those three cargos, those three have already been pre-sold. We had our first lift in February, as I mentioned we are expecting our second lift sometime in May and the third lift could well occur somewhere in July. Therefore, the issue of storing from the Guyana perspective is not one that really arises,” he explained.

Director of Energy assured that Government will consider its options if the situation continues.

“We have to consider all options, but also we need to be cognisant that storage is very expensive as we have seen, there are several countries and companies that are hiring the VLCC’s to store their fuel, given the shortage of storage space, those costs are escalating  daily, so we have to take the totality of the cost and benefits into consideration before we arrive at a single position.”

In the meantime, speaking specifically of Trinidad being an alternative storage hub if need be, Dr. Bynoe said this would not possible either.

“Trinidadians are using their own space to store their own fuel and based on estimation they will not be able to store for more than a month,” the Energy Director stated.

He reiterated that the issue was not major at the moment. “So, in fact, it is not as though we have excess capacity lying around.”

Storage space for crude Dr Bynoe reminded, is very difficult and expensive to find, so he is looking forward to markets beginning to pick up back.