Undaunted by falling oil prices, Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine says Government will continue to aggressively focus on oil production. He is confident that strategy will bear fruit within the next year or two.
He said the Port of Galeota was also attracting several foreign companies who are considering using the facility as a base to develop oil finds from Guyana.
In an interview at Fyzabad where he was lending support to UNC candidate Dr Lackram Bodoe, Ramnarine said whoever assumed the Energy Ministry portfolio after September 7 was "inheriting a platform and there is going to be an increase in oil production as a result of the work we have done."
"We have taken a decision to focus on oil production. In this area here, (Fyzabad) there are lots of state lands that were lying idle that could have gone into production and the Ministry of Energy put out–I think it was 84,000 hectares of land–for production.
"Those exploration programmes will start next year and we are talking about companies like Range Resources, Touchstone, Territorial and Lease Operators, companies that are household names in this part of the country and that will reinvigorate towns like Fyzabad."
Ramnarine recalled when Fyzabad was the centre of the local oil industry because Forest Reserve was prolific.
"We are resuscitating oil production, the policies to build our oil industry. I feel all those plans which took time to put together, that bid round for those three blocks on land, will begin to bear fruit by the year 2016/2017."
Ramnarine also said that the Mitsubishi project at La Brea for a methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) project, which represents a US$1b foreign direct investment, is on the verge of being finalised and started.
This project, a joint venture between Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry and two local companies Neal and Massy and the National Gas Company, will yield 2000 construction jobs and some 180 permanent high paying jobs.