Tapping the Promised Land: Guyana's Future as an Oil Producer

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The objective of the technical cooperation is to: (i) support on-going efforts in Guyana towards designing and building a robust regulatory framework for the production of oil and gas, against the background of the recent off-shore discoveries of oil and gas; (ii) explore opportunities for the country to make the best use of its gas production for power generation, and thus contribute to improving its security of supply and diversifying its energy matrix as the country currently imports all of its liquid fuels used for power generation ; and (iii) provide relevant knowledge transfer and capacity building, support build knowledgeable workforce.In early January 2017, two major international oil companies, ExxonMobil and Hess, announced the successful drilling of two deep-water exploratory wells (Liza and Payara). In March, ExxonMobil made its third oil-bearing sandstone reservoir discovery while drilling the Snoek well. More recently, ExxonMobil Corporation announced that it had made two new discoveries, Liza deep and Turbo-1. These discoveries (Liza, Payara, Snoek, Liza deep and Turbo-1) would place Guyana among the 40 largest reserves-holders in the world.The oil discovery therefore has critical implications for the country's economic development. If handled well, it can boost the overall standard of living for the country. However, there is considerable work to be done so that Guyana can enjoy the benefits of its oil wealth. Too many resource-rich countries have become development poor, and the list of new oil and gas exporters includes some of the world's poorest and most fragile states, making the downside risks especially high.