The Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo (GECSCE) recently participated in the Canada-Guyana Chamber of Commerce Annual Gala in Canada.
Attending the event on behalf of the Secretariat were the Chief Executive Officer, Kiana Wilburg, the Media and Operations Director, Fareeza Haniff and Mr Dexter Whyte, Director of Security and Facilities at GO Logistics, the parent company of GECSCE.
The Chamber event was attended by several specially invited guests such as Guyana’s Ambassador to Canada, Keith George; Guyana’s Honorary Consul to Canada, Manichand Singh; former Canadian Ambassador to Guyana and Barbados, Lilian Chatterjee; ExxonMobil’s Senior Director of International Government Relations, Craig Kelly; and Executive Members of the Canada Guyana Chamber.
The event was held at the Woodbine Convention Centre, Etobicoke, Toronto, Canada on October 19, 2024.
During his remarks, Ambassador George was keen to note the exciting developments taking place in Guyana, describing them as neither “accidental nor incidental.”
He noted that the discovery of over 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources in the Stabroek Block, operated by an ExxonMobil-led consortium, has allowed for accelerated growth across all traditional sectors. It has also allowed Guyanese authorities to fund a number of social welfare initiatives such as the recent announcement of a GY$100,000 one-off cash grant for all Guyanese 18 and over.
The Ambassador also noted that the strategic approach to the transformation of Guyana’s development landscape is a testament to the vision of President, Dr Irfaan Ali and Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo. The Ambassador added, “All traders and investors can take confidence in Guyana’s future based on this approach.”
A historical but comprehensive review of the efforts to fund the exploration and subsequent development of the oil and gas discoveries in the Stabroek Block was provided by ExxonMobil’s Craig Kelly.
The official noted that to date, there have been more than 30 significant discoveries in the deep waters of the block which have contributed significant revenues to Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF).
Kelly noted that the industry standard of moving from development to production is 10 years but this was achieved in four years’ time. The official noted that this was only possible with the support of Guyanese authorities, noting that it understands the importance of accelerated yet safe and sustainable operations.
He said, “Essentially, we had a partner in the government of Guyana and in the people of Guyana which understood the very important balance of opening your doors to investors and at the same time… supervising these projects for the protection of the people of Guyana.”
Overall, the official concluded that oil and gas is indeed supporting significant growth in Guyana under the prudent management of the administration. He added that Guyana is the place to be and ExxonMobil is “proud to support this incredible development story.”