A special issues on regulating oil development in Guyana, edited by our Dr Daria Shapovalova, has been published in the Oil, Gas, and Energy Law Journal. Dr Shapovalova has co-edited the special issue with Aaron Cooper from Coventry University following the conference they organised in May 2019.
In 2015, ExxonMobil announced a major discovery of offshore oil in Guyana, with more substantial discoveries made in the following years. With over 6 billion barrels in estimated reserves, predictions of GDP rise range from 300% to 1000% by 2025. For a small nation like Guyana, a substantial oil find of this nature presents a unique opportunity to catalyse its economic development. The well-managed development of an oil sector can transform an economy and the status of a nation. However, it can also lead to a ‘resource curse’ scenario, whereby a country becomes too dependent on a single industry and fails to regulate resource
extraction in a way that manages social and environmental impacts of extractive activities in an effective way. The newly found resources present challenges for Guyanese law- and policymakers, not just in how to best manage the future oil revenues, but also in how to attract foreign investors while maintaining robust enough legislative framework to prevent devastating environmental and social effects of an oil boom.
Daria’s paper in this special issue focuses on the protection of indigenous rights in Guyana in light of the country’s experience with mining and logging, and providing outlook for the upcoming offshore oil boom. The special issue can be accessed here - https://www.ogel.org/journal-browse-issues-toc.asp?key=85
