Guyana will import skills to oversee critical aspects of oil sector – President Ali

During the questioning segment of the virtual forum, the President admitted that currently does not have the technical capacity like other countries to oversee the oil sector as it should, but noted that moves are afoot to bring Guyana up to speed to hold oil companies accountable.

Guyana will import skills to oversee critical aspects of oil sector  – President Ali

As Guyana gets ready to celebrate two years as an oil-producing nation, President Irfaan today told a virtual Harvard Business School workshop that the government is working overtime to put systems in place to hold oil companies accountable.

During the question and answer segment of the virtual forum, the President admitted that Guyana currently does not have the technical capacity like other countries to oversee the oil sector as it should, but noted that moves are afoot to bring Guyana up to speed to hold oil companies accountable.

“We are trying as hard as possible to build the local capacity, to manage and to supervise and to be part of the regulatory framework that we are putting in place to hold the oil and gas companies accountable and that is a major component of our local content policy,” the President said.

The President’s comments come as questions continue to mount about his government’s failure to audit the staggering US$9 Billion in ExxonMobil expense.

 The government has already blamed the failure to audit Exxon’s books on the lack of local capacity.

The President told the Harvard Business School that with Guyana recognizing that there is an absence of critical capacity to oversee the sector at this time, those skills would have to be imported.

“We have to import those capacities and we are not shying away from that, but the importation of that capacity now has to be with the long-term intention of bridging the gap and building the local capacity,” the President noted during the question and answer segment.

President Ali also told the forum that the government is working to ensure that there is no corruption in the management of the country’s oil industry.

He said the government will boost legislative and other frameworks to ensure that the country’s resources are properly managed and benefit all citizens.

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