Guyana is ramping up efforts to train a world-class oil and gas workforce locally, with President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali revealing that the government is investing about US$150,000 in each trainee at the newly commissioned Guyana Technical Training Institute (GTTI) in Port Mourant, Berbice.

Speaking on his Tea on the Terrace podcast, the President said the initiative is aimed at ensuring Guyanese are equipped with internationally recognised skills to compete in the rapidly expanding energy sector.

“This is about investing in our people and building a workforce that can compete globally,” he said, noting that each trainee represents a significant national investment.

The modern facility, commissioned on February 15, is designed to remove the need for overseas technical training by offering internationally accredited programmes using industry-standard equipment and advanced simulation systems. Government, he explained, is pouring billions into education and training so that locals are positioned to lead the sector’s growth rather than rely heavily on foreign expertise.

Trainees enrolled in the programme say the impact is already being felt. One student described the training as opening doors to opportunities previously out of reach, while others noted that access to world-class certification locally eliminates the financial and logistical barriers of travelling abroad for similar programmes.

The 18-month training programme, delivered through the Guyana Technical Training College Incorporated (GTTCI), focuses on both foundational and advanced skills aligned with operations on Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. Training Centre Manager Shaagul Hameeth explained that the institute replicates offshore environments, allowing students to gain practical experience with the same systems used in the industry so they can transition directly into the workforce.

LearnCorp International President and CEO Phil Doody said the move to deliver the programme locally marks a significant step for the region, pointing out that cohorts previously had to travel to Canada for similar training. He described the Port Mourant facility as one of the most advanced of its kind in the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning Keoma Griffith said the investment addresses immediate workforce needs while laying the groundwork for long-term national development. He emphasised that the initiative is not only about filling current vacancies but about preparing a generation of skilled workers to support the country’s energy sector for decades.

The commissioning of the institute forms part of a broader push to strengthen human capital, with the government positioning Guyana as both a producer of energy and a regional hub for technical training.

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Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat on Tuesday told the National Assembly of Guyana that Guyana’s oil and gas sector is now regarded internationally as one of the best managed among producing countries, pointing to transparency, accountability and visible development outcomes as proof.

“…let me say in this house, Mister Speaker, that Guyana’s oil and gas sector- and as patriots, we should be proud of this- Guyana’s oil and gas sector is regarded as one of the best managed oil and gas sector in the world,” Bharrat said during his contribution to the debate. “Every single new oil producing country is looking at Guyana as an example when they’re drafting their framework to manage the oil and gas sector.”

The minister said Guyana is currently assisting several emerging producers with drafting local content legislation and putting systems in place to manage their sectors efficiently.

Bharrat argued that the true test of management is whether citizens can see benefits on the ground. “An indicator as to how well or whether an oil and gas sector is managed properly, you can look around in your country, and you can be able, for yourself, to judge whether the benefits are flowing to our people,” he said, adding that Guyana’s ongoing development points to effective management.

Turning to oversight of oil revenues, the minister reminded the House that WIN MP Terrence Campbell previously served on the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Board. “He very well knows of the strict transparency and accountability measures that are in place to monitor oil funds,” Bharrat said.

He also recalled that the new Natural Resource Fund legislation was passed just one year after the PPP/C returned to office in December 2020. “One year after taking government… in this house we passed the new Natural Resource Fund bill,” Bharrat said, noting that many oil-producing countries took a decade or more to establish a sovereign wealth fund.

“Many of times we like to look at Norway as a model oil and gas country. Norway took over 20 years to put a sovereign wealth fund in place. We did so… after one year in government,” he said.

Bharrat stressed that the law prevents unilateral control over withdrawals from the fund. “Ensuring that the finance minister is not the one who dictates how funds should flow out of that natural resources fund, but the only way funds can flow… is that there must be approval from the National Assembly, all of us here,” he said.

He added that accountability provisions are strict, warning that failure to declare revenues could carry serious penalties. “The finance minister… can be jailed for 10 years if he doesn’t come to the parliament and declare the revenue that flows into the natural resources fund. Ten years and hard labor,” Bharrat said.

According to the minister, the NRF framework also requires clear disclosure in every national budget. “There is a prescribed formula that in every budget we can announce how much is in the Natural Resources fund, how much will flow into the budget, how much will remain at the ending of December 2026,” he said, noting that these figures were already presented by the Minister of Finance.

Bharrat said public access to information further reinforces trust. “Any individual, Guyanese or not, could go online, and you can look at the Gazette where we gazette the oil revenue that flows into the natural resource fund… That is transparency, that is accountability. That is how you manage an oil and gas sector.”

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United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said international energy investors are unlikely to take risks in Venezuela’s oil sector if there are no strong guarantees for property rights, contract enforcement and legal protection, warning that companies could instead choose Guyana or other oil-producing jurisdictions.

Rubio made the remarks while testifying on President Donald Trump’s approach to Venezuela, responding to questions on investor confidence and the prospects for renewed foreign investment in the country’s energy sector.

“Venezuela has a lot of oil, they do. But there’s a lot of oil in other places too,” Rubio said. “Companies are only gonna invest somewhere if they know we’re gonna make our money back with a profit and our land isn’t gonna be taken from us and if you try to, there’s a court we can go to and contracts we can enforce.”

He explained that even before considering on-the-ground conditions, potential investors would first need approval from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to explore opportunities in Venezuela.

“The first step is some of these investors or potential investors need to get a license from OFAC to be able to even to explore this,” Rubio said. “Then they need to go down there and meet with people and see what’s happening and make that determination.”

However, Rubio stressed that without a transparent and secure investment environment, companies would simply take their capital elsewhere.

“If not, they’ll just invest the money in Guyana or they’ll just invest in some other part of the world that has oil,” he said. “They’re not gonna risk it.”

The Secretary of State said Venezuela would need to normalise its oil and gas industry as part of any broader recovery process, including providing security guarantees for workers, enforceable contracts and a functioning judicial system.

“That’s part of this transition process, that’s part of this recovery process, is to normalise their industry,” Rubio said, adding that certainty and transparency were essential to attracting foreign capital.

He noted that the issue goes beyond oil, pointing to the wider economic implications of investor confidence.

“It’s to their benefit to have set up a normal transparent process that encourages foreign investment not just in oil by the way, in other natural resources but in other sectors of the economy,” Rubio said. “Whether it’s retail, whether it’s banking.”

Rubio argued that countries able to guarantee stability and predictability stand to benefit from broader economic activity.

“A country that is prosperous and generating economic activity holds the promise of all sorts of economic activity,” he said.

His comments come as Guyana continues to attract major international investment in its rapidly expanding oil and gas sector, buttressed by what investors have described as a stable legal framework and investor-friendly environment.

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Guyana’s oil and gas sector will continue to anchor strong economic expansion in 2026, with overall growth projected at 16.2 per cent, according to Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Monday as he outlined macroeconomic targets for 2026, Singh said Guyana’s growth outlook remains robust, driven by pro-growth policies and a supportive policy framework, alongside sustained momentum in the non-oil economy.

“Mister Speaker, going forward, Guyana’s real economic growth is expected to remain strong, reflecting the pro growth policies of our government and the supportive policy frameworks that we’ve put in place,” Singh told the House.

He said the oil and gas sector will remain the primary engine of growth, while the non-oil economy continues to expand.

“The oil and gas sector will continue to be the main driver of overall growth, supported by the sustained dynamism that we have already seen demonstrated in the broader non oil economy,” he said.

Providing projections for 2026, Singh said economic expansion will remain in double digits across both segments of the economy.

“Mister Speaker, in 2026, overall growth is projected to be 16.2% and growth in the non oil economy is projected to be 10.8%,” he said.

On oil production, Singh reported that output from the four producing floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) offshore Guyana is expected to remain strong throughout the year.

“The four producing FPSOs in the Stabroek Block are projected to produce almost 307 million barrels of crude oil at a rate of approximately 840,000 barrels of oil per day,” Singh said.

He noted that the projected performance of the oil and gas sector, combined with continued expansion in non-oil activities, underpins government’s positive outlook for Guyana’s macroeconomic performance in 2026.

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Guyana is moving to conduct its first government-led, multi-client 3D seismic survey across unlicensed offshore acreages, a step that will strengthen future petroleum licensing rounds and support the establishment of a local data repository.

Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh told the National Assembly that the government is engaging two seismic acquisition companies to conduct the survey, which will improve seismic coverage and assist in building Guyana’s petroleum data repository, including the storage and management of data locally.

Dr. Singh said the initiative comes as the government continues engagements with companies over Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) from the 2022–2023 licensing round, with two new PSAs signed in the final quarter of 2025 and negotiations continuing in 2026 for the remaining blocks under “new and enhanced” terms.

He said the new seismic data will place Guyana in a stronger position to host additional international licensing rounds, as the government prepares for future auctions supported by higher-quality subsurface information.

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Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF) received US$2.1 billion in profit oil revenues in 2025, according to Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, during his Budget 2026 presentation in the National Assembly on Monday.

Presenting the NRF update, Singh told the House that 260 lifts of crude oil were conducted from Guyana’s four producing floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) during 2025, including an inaugural combined lift from the One Guyana FPSO.

“Mister Speaker, in 2025 there were 260 lifts of crude oil from Guyana’s four producing FPSOs, including a combined inaugural lift from the One Guyana FPSO,” Singh said.

He detailed that government lifts for the year amounted to 32 in total, comprising “six lifts executed from Liza Destiny for government, eight from Liza Unity, and 12 from Prosperity, along with three from the One Guyana FPSO.”

Singh explained that the profit oil payments received in 2025 reflected “two lifts that occurred in the final quarter of 2024, 29 of the government lifts that occurred in 2025 and government’s share from the inaugural lift from the One Guyana FPSO.”

Breaking down the revenue inflows, the Finance Minister reported that the US$2.1 billion in profit oil comprised US$400.1 million from Liza Destiny, US$767.7 million from Liza Unity, US$824.4 million from Prosperity, and US$133.6 million from One Guyana.

In addition, Singh said royalty payments totalling US$330.7 million were received from the Stabroek Block operator during the year.

“Petroleum revenue receipts for 2025 also included a 15 million US dollar signing bonus from a new production sharing agreement signed on November 11, 2025, fully disclosed, Mister Speaker, fully disclosed and deposited in the Natural Resource Fund,” he told the House.

Singh further noted that, in accordance with the NRF Act 2021 and approvals granted by the National Assembly, US$2.463 billion was withdrawn from the Fund in 2025 to finance national development priorities outlined in the budget.

“At the end of 2025, Mister Speaker, the balance in the NRF, inclusive of interest income and net of withdrawals made, stood at US$3.25 billion,” Singh said.

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ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) has begun a new phase of offshore drilling activities at the Liza Phase Two development, with operations set to continue until the end of February 2026.

According to a Notice to Mariners issued by the Maritime Administration Department, drilling commenced on January 18 at the Liz_3P13 drill centre, located within the Stabroek Block in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The work is being carried out by the mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) Noble Don Taylor.

The drilling programme will run until February 28 and will involve a number of support and offshore service vessels operating in the area. These vessels are expected to display the international signals used by ships engaged in drilling and subsea activities. Authorities have advised mariners to exercise extreme caution and to keep clear of the vessels while navigating in the vicinity.

The Liz_3P13 drill centre is situated approximately 104 nautical miles, or just under 193 kilometres, offshore Guyana and covers an operational area of about one square kilometre. The Maritime Administration Department has also provided updated coordinates and chart insets to assist mariners operating offshore.

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Air quality protection remains one of Guyana’s top regulatory priorities in the oil and gas sector, says Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Head Kemraj Parsram, who highlighted stronger safeguards now embedded in ExxonMobil’s environmental permits.

Speaking on the Starting Point podcast hosted by Kiana Wilburg, Parsram said the EPA has significantly strengthened its conditions for emissions management, especially where flaring is concerned.

He confirmed that the evolution of the permits, now seven in total for ExxonMobil’s Stabroek Block projects, includes 14 safeguards to prevent flaring and another eight governing emergency situations.

“That is proof right there that we have come a long way. We’ve improved on our permit conditions,” Parsram said.

He stressed that protecting the air Guyanese breathe is a core mandate of the EPA.

“Air quality is non-negotiable in Guyana,” he said. “It’s our mandate as the agency to ensure that the air that we breathe is protected… Guyana has a good history and a good sort of record of excellent air quality.”

He also pointed to Guyana’s international climate obligations, noting that the country has a “rigid and strong” record under the global climate change framework.

Parsram recalled that from the inception of offshore production at Liza Phase One, routine flaring was explicitly prohibited. Unlike in some jurisdictions where gas is continuously burned off, operators here are required to reinject gas during oil extraction.

However, he acknowledged that the Liza One operation experienced a setback when a gas compressor malfunctioned, causing elevated flaring until replacement equipment arrived.

He said lessons were learned from that incident and applied to later permits.

“We ensured that subsequent permit, that there is a redundancy built in. So gas compressor, there’s not one, there’s two,” Parsram noted, adding that additional equipment is now required to enable quicker fixes.

The EPA head explained that emergency flaring is only allowed under clearly defined “upset conditions” and only after the operator obtains approval, with a strict 14-day limit to resolve the issue.

“It’s not just a carte blanche, you can do what you want. You have to seek approval from us. And we set a stipulated timeline and date for that,” he said.

Beyond that timeframe, the EPA now imposes taxes on flaring, a cost designed to discourage delays and push operators to restore safe operations swiftly.

“It’s serving as a deterrent… that tax prevents or encourages the developer to make sure that they fix the problem right away,” Parsram explained.

He reminded that while emergency flaring may sometimes be unavoidable, the rules remain firm.

“Zero routine flaring. Upset condition, yes… If you exceed that time, then it’s taxed to get you to hurry up in local language.”

Parsram asserted that emissions from oil production, like any industrial activity, must always be regulated to remain within standards and preserve Guyana’s strong environmental record.

“We have to maintain our air quality,” he emphasised.

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The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Kemraj Parsram, says operators in Guyana’s offshore oil sector cannot simply submit oil spill response plans and leave them on the shelf. He explained that these plans must be activated and tested to ensure every party involved is ready to respond if a major incident occurs.

Speaking on the Starting Point podcast hosted by Kiana Wilburg, Parsram underscored the importance of a key provision in environmental permits which requires operators to operationalise their oil spill response plan at least twice within the first three years of receiving approval.

Wilburg noted that this provision strengthens environmental accountability and forces companies to demonstrate readiness in real-world conditions rather than treating response plans as paperwork.

Parsram agreed, stating that anyone can produce a plan, but testing is the only way to confirm that the necessary resources are in place and effective. He said operationalising the plan ensures all parties understand what is required of them during a spill response.

He stressed that responsibility does not rest solely on operators like ExxonMobil. If a serious event were to occur, multiple agencies and partners would need to act, from the EPA to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), and even local fishermen.

Parsram highlighted that regular simulations and exercises ensure that everyone knows their role, where resources are coming from, and how to respond to a tier-three spill, the most severe category.

By enforcing operational testing of these plans, the EPA is working to ensure that Guyana’s oil industry is not only regulated on paper, but fully prepared for emergencies that could affect the environment and coastal livelihoods.

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Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, has confirmed that Government will next Tuesday sign a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Cybele (Cybil Energy Limited) for the S7 shallow-water block.

He explained that most of the shallow-water blocks awarded in the recent bid round measure an average of 2,000 square kilometres, including the S7 block. “We would have awarded the block to Cybele, so whoever is their partner, we are signing with Cybele,” the Minister noted.

Bharrat stressed that the contract terms remain the same as those agreed with TotalEnergies, and that the PSA is already published online for public access. The Government had delayed the signing of these new contracts to ensure that one standard PSA would be used for all companies operating in shallow water.

“So we have a shallow water PSA and not different PSAs for different companies,” he stated, adding that all companies have now agreed to the unified terms.

The fiscal regime also remains unchanged. “The 10% tax, 10% royalty, 50/50, 65% cost recovery, that will not change in any agreement, as we would have made public,” Bharrat said.

He added that only a few administrative issues were negotiated by the team ahead of finalisation. During the launch event next Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., technical officers will provide further details on the agreement and its specific features.

“It is the same PSA that is online… that we sign with Total is the same PSA that we will sign with Cybele next week,” the Minister reiterated.

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