
Opinion

Guyana Oil Share: 1.29 Barrels of oil out of every 100 Barrels
It has been reported that Guyana received $336 billion in 2023 from oil, and had to pay $306 billion in taxes for Exxon Mobil and partners (KN: Sept. 13, 2024). The implication which can be drawn from this distribution of total revenue is that Guyana only received G$30 billion ($336 B – $306 B) from…

Reclaiming Guyana’s Oil Wealth: Confronting political timidity and the surrender of sovereignty Part 2
Last week I called out the political leaders for their timidity and dishonesty for hiding behind “sanctity of contract”. Someone pointed out that I seem to have spared Shuman’s Liberty and Justice Party and the United Force (if it exists). That was an oversight. The response to last week’s column was silence from the political…

Reclaiming Guyana’s Oil Wealth: Confronting political timidity and the surrender of sovereignty
Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Column 136 Over the past three weeks, this Column has shown how the PPP/C has reversed its pre-election promise to review and renegotiate the 2016 Petroleum Agreement. But it actually did worse – reversed its commitment to an independent Petroleum Commission, failed to provide…

The Consumer Price Index used by both Bureau of Statistics and Bank of Guyana for 2023 are inconsistent with the financial system data
Dr. Ramesh Gampat SN letter September 8, 2024 questioned the ‘credibility of inflation data’ by the Bureau of Statistics namely, the annual inflation rate for 2023. The number used lies somewhere between 1.6 percent and 2 percent. These numbers are inconsistent with financial system data. Guyana’s Consumer Price Index for January 2023 was 130.7%, ending…

Why construct a waste treatment plant in close proximity to a populated centre?
Two main roads EBD and ECD. Villages formed alongside these roads. The location of this Waste Treatment Plant is at Coverden – a village alongside EBD. Couldn’t this plant have been sited a few miles inland, away from one of these villages? Penelope Howell wrote this: “While standing in front of PWSI, I felt a…

Sanctity of Contract vs Sovereignty over Natural Resources – Part 3 (Final)
Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Column 135 This is the final part of an adaptation of a talk I gave last July at a forum sponsored by the US NGO Oil and Gas Guyana Network (OGGN). The thrust of my contribution was that the Government’s excuse for reneging on…

Concerns: PWSI Waste Treatment Plant – Coverden East Bank Demerara
Concerns: PWSI Waste Treatment Plant – Coverden East Bank Demerara Yesterday, we were traumatized to be informed by Mr. Joel Bhagwandin that the PWSI Waste Treatment Plant started its operation at Coverden some five (5) months ago, which will mean that processing of petroleum waste started either April of May 2024; oblivious to Coverden and…


There must be an independent EIA on the proposed waste management operations at Coverden
We write in solidarity with Cover-den and its community advocates, Penelope Howell and Audreyanna Thomas, who have exposed alleged breaches of the Environmental Protection Act (EP Act) and rule of law in the awarding of an environmental permit to Professional Waste Solutions Incorporated (PWSI) by the EPA to operate an on-shore oil and gas waste…

Bharrat’s disinformation on oil production rates is unprincipled and dangerous
I read without surprise, the August 10, 2024 KN clip “MP Vickram Bharrat provided misleading, deceptive information to Parliament on rate of oil production – David Patterson”. We all know that “misleading and deceptive” are parliamentary jargons for “lies”; but, in all fairness, let’s also charitably attribute some of the Honorable Minister’s mouthings to ignorance….