By now many Guyanese are pondering the important concept known as the natural resource curse. Government ministers, high-paid government consultants and some news outlets have been talking about it since the discovery of high-quality crude oil in Guyana’s offshore waters. As early as 1995, the concept was first observed statistically by development economists and researchers…
Late last year the Wall Street Journal reported that Brazil received US$1.88 billion in signing bonuses for six exploration blocks during a process of competitive auctioning. Chad in 2001 received US$25 million in a signing bonus for sour crude oil with lower viscosity compared with Guyana’s high quality sweet crude. Signing bonuses are also paid…
A contract was signed in June 2016 between the coalition government, ExxonMobil and its partners in the Stabroek block. Why did this contract dealing with the exploitation of the nation’s natural resources remain a secret for over a year? This does not augur well for the future transparency of the oil industry. In Article 15…
There is a joke that you may have heard in some accounting classes. During an interview, prospective candidates were asked what was 2+2. The engineer answered 4, the journalist 4, and the lawyer 4. The accountant leaned over and whispered, “I can make it any number you want”. There is a great point behind this…
Many new graduates searching for a job lack the experience they need to get their dream job. They have spent years studying and have good grades. However, without the relevant industry experience, many employers are not willing to take the risk on them, especially for highly technical positions. Usually it takes 10 years to develop…
