News Editor

ExxonMobil agreement should be renegotiated before new deals with other companies

Warren Buffet: “You cannot produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” Agreeing to more oil agreements will not compensate Guyana for the unpatriotic Petroleum Agreement with Exxon, Hess and CNOOC. What we need is to renegotiate the June 27, 2016 Petroleum Contract – posthaste. Thus, the Stabroek News article dated March…

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Could Guyana escape the natural resource curse? Part 6: Oil and other sectors

The previous column explored how the lack of economic research capacity might have contributed to the lopsided contract in favour of ExxonMobil. One misconception that is often expressed in various Guyanese quarters is observers like yours truly never worked in the oil industry, therefore, we do not know about negotiating a PSA-type oil contract. Indeed,…

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Overseas firm to advise on remaining oil blocks – Trotman

An international firm will advise the Guyana Government on how to market the country’s remaining unassigned oil blocks, according to Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman. “Cabinet has determined that an international firm will be retained to guide and advise that process going forward,” Trotman told Sunday Stabroek. “A short-list of capable firms is being compiled…

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ExxonMobil strangles Guyana with Stability Clause but has none with Ghana

Foreign companies often advocate the use of a “stability clause” in the quest for certainty of contractual provisions. This clause seeks to secure the oil contract and benefits therein for the oil operator, against future government action or changes in the law. Stabilization clauses freeze the essential provisions of the contract. Different countries have used…

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Could Guyana escape the natural resource curse? Part 5: economic research capacity and the oil contract

Making prediction in a complex and nonlinear world often involves identifying initial conditions and then sequentially reasoning (or solving) forward. One way of knowing how well Guyana will do with its newfound oil and gas resources is to consider the initial conditions that exist in the country today. In this column and future ones, I…

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