Energy chamber: New minister has to address issues

Khan was appointed Energy Minister following Monday’s Cabinet reshuffle.

In a media release yesterday, Energy Chamber president, Dr Thackwray Driver, stated “many important decisions” were needed to be taken to secure the future of this key sector for the economy.

“The Energy Chamber looks forward to working closely with Senator Franklin Khan to address the serious issues facing the sector,” he stated, adding this included the shortfalls in gas production which have been “severely impacting the sector over the past few years” and can only be addressed though significant capital investment into the upstream gas industry.

“The key issue for the new Minister of Energy will, therefore, be to ensure that investments in upstream gas do indeed take place. This means creating clarity about the investment climate and ensuring investors receive a return on investment commensurate with the risks that they are taking,” Driver stated.

He noted the Minister would also need to tackle falling oil production as not only does falling domestic oil production impact on Government revenue but also impacts “negatively on foreign exchange availability, as more foreign exchange has to be used to buy crude oil to put through the Point-a- Pierre refinery.” “Petrotrin has a very important role to play in reversing the decline in crude oil production and there any many important policy decisions that have to be taken with respect to the company and their valuable oil assets,” he stated.

Driver also advised the new Minister to “work closely with the Minister of Finance to complete the review of oil and gas taxation” saying the IMF recommendations, as outlined by the Minister of Finance in his budget presentation, “offer a good place to start discussions with the industry.” “There are also significant opportunities for the local energy services sector to contribute to diversification of our exports, especially through accessing opportunities in Guyana, where there has been a very significant new oil discovery.

The new Minister of Energy must work closely with the Minister of Trade to help local service companies take advantage of these opportunities,” he added.