Guyana’s strategies are ‘textbook for how to do things right’- Energy Advisor

David Goldwyn, the President of an International Energy Advisory Consultancy, says many of the strategies being employed by the government to manage the new oil and gas industry and its revenues are textbook examples of good management.

Even so, the Energy Advisor intends to engage government officials and other stakeholders this week to get a firsthand understanding of how these strategies are unfolding and how effective they are.

Goldwyn is the President of Goldwyn Global Strategies and Chairman of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Centre’s Energy Advisory Group.

He has spent years assessing energy industries and the management of the sector. This week, he is in Guyana to talk about his research paper and expertise on: “Managing Resource Wealth – What Have We Learned?”

While engaging members of the local media on Tuesday, Goldwyn stressed that it is important to learn lessons from the experiences of other countries. Doing so, he believes, will help Guyana glean some of the best practices learnt along the way.

“The advantage of coming last is that you get to learn from everybody else,” Goldwyn said.

He hopes to engage officials and other stakeholders much more this week and gain a better understanding of Guyana’s efforts, though he already believes that the strategies adopted seem sound.

“The strategies that I have heard about really are textbooks of how to do things right.

“The first is the creation of a Natural Resource Fund,” he said.

Such a fund, he explained, is necessary because it allows countries to save revenues earned and use it on much-needed projects such as building key infrastructure.

He also believes Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) was a good move to help the country its sustainable development ambitions.

At the even of his visit, following engagements, Goldwyn hopes to impress upon Guyana some of the lessons learnt from other countries venturing into the lucrative but volatile petroleum industry. He believes Guyana can still learn from others.