Within the auspices of the New Petroleum Producers Group Annual Meeting held in Suriname from October 15-20, 2017 Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman met with representatives from the oil and gas institutions and agencies of Suriname, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone to share experiences for the benefit and enhanced development of the countries gathered.
During the meeting, country representatives shared innovative ideas on petroleum management governance structures and geological experiences.
To advance efforts, Minister Trotman proposed a joint Guyana/Suriname study tour of Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone during 2018 where technical officers from Suriname would join Guyana and expand on initial discussions to further develop country-to-country exchanges.
It was agreed that the countries can benefit from sharing information and experiences on exploration programmes and development plans, which in turn would better enable governments to optimise and manage petroleum reservoir development. The representatives agreed that it was very important to gain increased understanding of the technologies that are most efficient in specific geological contexts.
The joint Guyana/Suriname study tour proposal was accepted by those in attendance and several follow-up actions have been agreed on to make the study tour a reality with Chatham House being asked to take the lead on organising the upcoming activities.