India, Guyana to join forces in oil and gas

India and Guyana have agreed to cooperate in the oil and gas sector, including long-term crude purchase from the South American country and investment in its upstream sector.

Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri met Guyana president Mohamed Irfaan Ali on Thursday.

"The leaders agreed on direct government-to-government cooperation across the entire spectrum of the oil and gas sector including increased long-term offtake, participation in exploration and production activities in Guyana, technical cooperation in the midstream and downstream sector and capacity building," the oil ministry said in a statement.

The leaders agreed to set up two technical teams to take forward these discussions, the ministry said. The contours of future cooperation would be finalised during the visit of Guyana's vice president Bharrat Jagdeo to India in February, it added.

A contract was also signed between Guyana Power and Gas Inc, a wholly-owned company of the government of Guyana, and Engineers India Ltd for providing consultancy services for a 300 MW power plant project in Guyana.