Guyana hoping for oil, gas find; will seek T&T help

Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters in Port of Spain Wednesday his country would seek help from Trinidad and Tobago if it strikes oil.

Guyana is currently drilling for oil and hopes to make a successful strike this year.

"We’re keeping our fingers crossed but we think the potential is huge, based on all the studies, including studies by the U.S. geological surveys. If we were to hit oil and gas, we need tremendous capacity to develop the industry, and Trinidad and Tobago has that capacity and it’s culturally closer to us.

"I think we may be able to source that capacity here, so we are looking forward to developing strong cooperation with Trinidad and Tobago in this sector," Jagdeo said.

He was speaking at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar after both leaders met at the PM's office.

Jagdeo also spoke about other developments in Guyana including the construction of a hydroelectric plant to supply the entire country with electricity by 2013.

"By one act we will remove our entire energy supply for electricity from fossil fuel to renewable that will not only have a significant impact on carbon emissions.

"As you know, we are committed to a low carbon development strategy but it would also have tremendous benefits to our balance of payment position," he said.

He said another Guyana is already producing electricity using bagasse as fuel. Bagasse is a produced from sugar cane. Jagdeo said his country's sugar industry has just gone through a US$200 million modernisation and Guyana now has one of the most modern sugar factories in the world.