Too early to make decisions on who will refine oil – Minister of State

GINA, GUYANA, Friday, February 10, 2017

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said that government will make decisions “in due course” on who it will work with in the emerging oil and gas industry.

The Minster was responding to questions posed to him at the weekly post Cabinet press briefing today.

Trinidad and Tobago’s state refinery, Petrotrin, has publicly indicated it is open to developing business relations with Guyana given its expertise in the refining business.

Harmon pointed out that Guyana is still in the early days of developing its oil and gas sector and any offers made are preliminary. “The question of oil refinery is just exploratory in nature and do not require at this stage a decision from government. We will take everything on board and in due course give it the consideration which it deserves,” the Minister said.

Guyana is expected to begin oil production by 2020. The country made its first oil discovery of commercial quantities back in 2015 by ExxonMobil and its partners who were exploring the Liza well in the 6.6 million acres Stabroek Block located offshore Guyana.

Last year, it was officially announced that the find is of commercial oil quantities equivalent to more than 1.4 billion barrels of recoverable high quality crude oil.

 

By: Tiffny Rhodius