
Opinion
Vote for leaders who will demand renegotiation of the oil contracts
Global Witness has revealed that Guyana stands to lose at least US$55 billion from the current 7.9 billion barrels in the Stabroek Block. The major political parties have not indicated that they will renegotiate the atrocious Stabroek oil contract. But the Guyanese people have other choices. Leaders of both the Change Guyana party and the…
Quintuple Tragedy: Guyana Oil Deals, Rusal, Bauxite Workers, Bauxite Union and Government
The Bauxite workers have been and are being treated in a crude and crass manner by the global aluminum giant Rusal, the Rusal corporation is the 90% owner of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI). The workers are also being underserved by the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) and the Government of…
Guyanese Court Fails to Hold Oil Companies to their Environmental Commitments
Yesterday, a Guyanese court issued a ruling in a judicial review action brought against the government and three companies — Esso (Exxon), Hess, and CNOOC Nexen — for failing to comply with the Environmental Protection Act. “Ironically, this ruling comes just as a new study shows the Deepwater Horizon disaster ten years ago had much farther-reaching (and still…
Open-ended cost recovery in Exxon deal remains a major problem for Guyana
Please allow me to comment on your article in yesterday’s SN: `Guyana’s first million barrels of oil is closer – still no word on price.’ Once one peels away the legal mumbo jumbo and pretensions, the oil contract clearly says that profit oil is valued by the monthly average of the spot market price. You…
President Granger and his key aides must take blame for exploitative Exxon agreement
It is ridiculous to believe that “Trotman’s hurried negotiation would place him solely at fault for failure to capitalise on Guyana’s strong bargaining position” as Kaieteur News asserted in their article dated February 9, 2020 and captioned “Announcement of Liza-2 find, one day after contract signing, shows ExxonMobil’s dishonesty – Chris Ram”. The repeated overkilling…

Bridging Deed sells both patrimony and soul (4th. Instalment)
Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Part 86 – February 7, 2020 Introduction It has been a week of fast-moving events. This past Monday (February 3), the London-based NGO Global Witness released a report Signed Away in which it made the claim that had Guyana properly negotiated the 2016 Petroleum…
When OpenOil and Global Witness take into account the ‘critical’ Paris Agreement they drop their estimate of Guyana’s revenue down to $40 billion over 20 years
The full Global Witness report has now been published. Does anybody still take seriously the estimate of US$168 billion to Guyana from oil production? Or the extra US$55 billion that Exxon is supposed to give up because Global Witness say Exxon can afford it – ignoring the real world where Exxon answers to its shareholders not…
It remains the case that this is a rotten deal with Exxon that must be changed
Guyanese are trapped in an unprecedented and appalling Petroleum Agreement with Exxon (Exxon, Hess and Nexen). It is arranged and recorded in exploitative and egregious language. What has been forced on this nation by APNU+AFC is inexcusable, unjustifiable and indefensible; and we are further insulted by calling the sellout “an Agreement”, one that needs unlimited…

Bridging Deed sells both patrimony and soul (3rd. Instalment)
Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Part 85 – February 6, 2020 Two days ago, Column 84 set out the main provisions of the 2016 Bridging Deed. That Deed purported to keep alive the 1999 Petroleum Agreement signed by then President Janet Jagan. Effectively, it not only allows the three…