Chevron and transparency

Chevron and transparency

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…

Read More
Guyana vs. Venezuela and the Monroe Doctrine

Do US interests still prevail in Essequibo two hundred years after the Monroe Doctrine?

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…

Read More

The NRF tax violation calls into question sanctity of the Stabroek Block Contract

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…

Read More
News-clippings diplomacy

News-clippings diplomacy

“Maduro had in his possession, several volumes of documents, containing information on the 2016 ExxonMobil PSA and the various reports by citizens claiming that ExxonMobil is robbing Guyana of its oil and gas resources”, says AG Nandlall (SN Letters, Dec 17th). I don’t understand how Maduro can use these mostly [news-clippings] to pressure ExxonMobil to…

Read More
Zero tax on ExxonMobil is monumental financial loss for Guyana and its people

Zero tax on ExxonMobil is monumental financial loss for Guyana and its people

Parliament’s decision to create—what amounts to—a zero tax clause in the petroleum production agreement keeps power and wealth in the hands of its foreign counterparties and contributes to Guyana’s economic inequality. Additionally, it stagnates the potential for sustainable economic growth here in the local land. While the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) should be…

Read More