Possible long-term oil purchase deal part of ‘new energy & momentum’ in Guyana/ India relations

India continues to engage Guyanese officials on a possible long-term oil purchase deal and cooperation in the oil and gas sector were a key focus on Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s official visit to India this week.

On Friday, Guyana’s Vice President met India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri.

Following that engagement, Minister Singh Puri tweeted that the engagement focused on several areas of mutual interest.

“…we particularly discussed matters pertaining to the entire energy chain including participation in assets, commitment for long term offtake and capacity building initiatives,” he added.

India has long been interested in a long-term agreement for the supply of Guyana’s oil and Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced recently that the South-Asian country is expected to send a proposal on this soon.

With that proposal, Guyana is expected to assess whether it will get a beneficial deal supplying its share of oil produced in the prolific Stabroek Block offshore to India.

Outside of the long-term oil supply, President Ali had said that the two governments are also exploring the possible award of oil blocks directly to India.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jagdeo also met with his counterpart in India, Jagdeep Dhankhar.  During this engagement, energy cooperation was also a key feature.

“Both leaders agreed to continue to work on strengthening of the bilateral partnership in various sectors including petroleum and natural gas, agriculture, agro-processing, education, healthcare, capacity building, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), renewable energy and climate change,” a release issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs noted.

Dr. Jagdeo’s visit follows an official visit of President Ali in January 2023. President Ali was the Chief Guest of the 17th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, a major diaspora engagement ceremony in India.

Because of these two high-level visits, just weeks apart, the External Affairs Minister also said: “High-level exchanges between India and Guyana reflect new energy and momentum in bilateral relations.”