Government appoints expert as advisor

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Mar 11, CMC – Government has appointed Guyanese-born expert in offshore and civil engineering, Dr. Jan Mangal, as the petroleum advisor in the Ministry of the Presidency.
“He will be advising us on the development of the petroleum industry. He will be advising the Minister and the Ministry of Natural Resources on matters of policy… We are happy to have a Guyanese person possessing the skills that are now available to us,” according to a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said the David Granger government has been receiving advice from, Mangal since last year.
“Now that this is a formalised arrangement we are very happy. He comes at a time when we are continuing to prepare for first oil as it is called, in 2020,” he said.
Mangal, who holds a Doctorate in Offshore Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Oxford, said that he will be looking at the issue of energy generation in a holistic manner in keeping with the country’s ‘green agenda’.
“It’s not only the power sector and the green agenda but it’s also about infrastructure, the revenue from the petroleum and the needs of the sector as whole… The power sector in Guyana also needs to be looked at in terms of how natural gas can be used instead of diesel or whatever is being used right now,” he said.
He said that his first task will be to engage with officials Exxon Mobil at its Guyana location as well as at its Houston, Texas operations where he is based, to get a full understanding of their development plans.
Guyana has been seeking to develop its oil sector after the US-based Exxon Mobile last year announced the discovery of the commodity in waters off the Caribbean country.
In January, the international oil and gas company announced positive results from its Payara-1 well offshore Guyana and earlier this month said it would be investing five billion US dollars as it prepares to explore oil production by 2020.