Equity ownership in a business implies that an investor becomes a shareholder; and therefore, has access to complete information; has decision-making authority that is based on the relative size of the funds invested; and receives a share of the total profits, calculated on the shareholder’s ownership of the total invested funds. In the case of…
A distinguishing feature of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) and the Government of Guyana (GOG) is the contrived way in which total cost is specified in the business. In particular, the total cost (TC) is specified as: TC = 0.75TR = 0.75PQ, where TR is total revenue, P is the…
In his letter published in Stabroek News on 13 January 2024, Mr. Nascimento re-stated my position. In his words, ‘it is only Venezuela which is the aggressor and, by its Referendum, threatens the use of force’. Why, then, would Guyana have felt pressured ‘with equivalence’ [Nascimento’s words] to let stand Point 1 of the Joint…
The Oil & Gas Governance Network (OGGN) Guyana notes that Stabroek News on January 13, 2024 carried a letter by Mr Dhanraj Deonarine with the title “Is the NRF really overstated?” The letter suggests that the claim by Mr. Ram that the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), Guyana’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, is overstated “is not such…
Thanks to Dhanraj for taking the time and effort to indulge in this debate. More Guyanese should get involved. (Ref – Dhanraj Deonarine’s letter, “Is the NRF really overstated?”, SN Jan. 13th). Here is the larger question on the subject: How can Oil Companies prepare their tax returns, submit them to GoG – and say…
The Laws of Guyana Corporation Tax Act imposes a 40% corporation tax on chargeable profits for commercial companies and 25% for non-commercial companies. The law defines commercial activity as “an activity carried out by a company trading in goods not manufactured by it” and non-commercial activity would be anything not covered in this definition. One…
On October 23, 2023, Chevron announced that it had purchased Hess shares in the ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) for US$53.0 Billion. Recalling that Hess owned 30 percent of the company, this ownership implied that the total equity in the company is now estimated to be US$176.7B, with the remainder distributed as US$79.5B for ExxonMobil, and…
Janette Bulkan is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia This column reflects on the Joint Declaration of Argyle against the geopolitical backdrop in which Guyana and Venezuela are enmeshed. One can contrast the Guyana government’s declarations of sovereignty against the tangible exercise of power and influence before and after May 2015, when…
A few years ago, oil companies would bombard the Guyanese people with “frontier country” to justify an embarrassing Stabroek Block contract that is currently paying us a paltry 14.5% or less of total oil revenues. The oil companies seem to have retreated from marketing us the “frontier country” tune after pushback from those in the…
Details, including the full terms of reference or scope, remain unpublished regarding the 2018-2020 ExxonMobil Guyana US$7.3B cost recovery audit report, leaving Guyanese to speculate on the political, economic, and military influences on Guyanese-led RVHE Consulting and international firms: Martindale Consultants Inc. and SGS. Kaieteur News released an article on November 12th, titled, ‘How ExxonMobil…
