Begin talks on Guyana oil and gas

The first story was about the serious economic problems currently being faced by our once hugely profitable flagship State enterprise, Petrotrin.

This company is saddled with a huge debt, and it operates its massive refinery at a very low percentage of its potential capacity.

From all reports, a massive injection of capital is required to bring the refinery up to an acceptable standard, money which this Government just does not have at this time.

The other big story was about Guyana, where recent offshore exploration activities have revealed massive potential reserves of both oil and gas.

It is being predicted that within the next three years Guyana is likely to become one of the world’s major producers of oil and gas.

Guyana of course has no oil refining capacity, or gas processing facilities, and unless it invests in these it would have to continue importing all its requirements of finished fuels.

Surely, we don’t need a rocket scientist to put these two things together for us. In a few short years we will have a huge refinery, as well as gas processing facilities, but very little oil or gas. Guyana will be just the opposite: plenty of oil and gas, but no processing facilities.

Surely the time is ripe, right now, for this country to initiate discussions with Guyana, and the oil companies operating there, for future collaboration?

Gary N Voss via email