Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, says the government will fast-track decisions regarding the energy sector.
As he addressed the Opening Ceremony of the American Chamber’s 29th Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Conference on Tuesday, he said the ease of doing business in the sector needs to be addressed.
“It is our intention in the coming weeks, given the urgency of this issue, to get projects off the ground. We intend to establish an Energy Accelerator Hub within the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries. The mandate of this hub will be to debottleneck the approval process along the energy value chain and accelerate the development of projects in the energy sector.”
He said the government aims to implement the Energy Accelerator Hub by the second quarter of 2026.
“We are told by research over the years that if we would accelerate the ease of doing business in the energy sector, we can generate as much as US$120 million more per year. With that in mind, the Prime Minister has mandated us to deal with this question.”
Minister Moonilal also shared some important statistics on accidents in the oil and gas sector for 2025.
“In total, there were 305 reported incidents, predominantly occurring in the upstream sector, including 44 incidents attributed to fires or explosions, resulting regrettably in eight fatalities. Despite the advancements in safety within our energy sector, considerable work remains to be done.”
‘HSSE 360: Innovation for Resilience’ is the theme of the American Chamber’s 29th Annual Conference.