Opinion

Following last week’s discussion of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) as a mechanism for avoiding and/or controlling the triad of crises typically associated with booms in oil and gas export revenues, I describe below the Government of Guyana’s declared intention with regards to its own SWF. Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources has declared Guyana’s SWF…

Introduction In last week’s column I had advanced the opinion that there were three policy priorities seemingly driving government’s approach to the development of the oil and gas sector. If taken in their widest meaning, these priorities can be said to represent the overwhelming bulk of government’s policy concerns, as publicly indicated to date. To…

Introduction There has been a veritable spate of commercial oil and gas discoveries since the 2000s. In its 2016 Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank had indicated that over recent years there have been signs of this flagging among developing countries. This circumstance has raised concerns, as delays in oil projects are always problematic…

From early colonial times, Guyana’s commodity potential has attracted external investments. And this attraction has remained easily the leading indicator of both Guyana’s growth and development performance as well as its prospects. This is still true today, despite 1) the growth of the state both as a commodity producer and regulator of the economic system;…

Introduction Under Section 31 of the Petroleum Act, official notification was given last month, by ExxonMobil and its partners (Nexen Energy and Hess Corporation), to the Government of Guyana confirming the find (discovery) of commercial quantities of oil and gas in the Stabroek Block. A few weeks later, in today’s column I conclude my commentary…

Introduction Under Section 31 of the Petroleum Act, official notification was given last month, by ExxonMobil and its partners (Nexen Energy and Hess Corporation), to the Government of Guyana confirming the find (discovery) of commercial quantities of oil and gas in the Stabroek Block. A few weeks later, in today’s column I conclude my commentary…

Introduction Today’s column concludes the discussion on fiscal break-even prices for crude oil, introduced three weeks ago on November 13. To recall, that topic was introduced under the rubric of a broader one: on the cost-price relation, which might emerge in Guyana’s coming time of oil and gas production and export (possibly around 2025). Readers…

Introduction      Today’s column furthers the discussion of the fiscal break-even price for crude oil. As previously indicated, this is a normative price, which is dependent on what governments figure that price ought to be, if they are to obtain the level of revenue that they need from oil to meet their expected spending requirements, while…

Introduction Under Section 31 of the Petroleum Act, official notification was given last month, by ExxonMobil and its partners (Nexen Energy and Hess Corporation), to the Government of Guyana confirming the find (discovery) of commercial quantities of oil and gas in the Stabroek Block. A few weeks later, in today’s column I conclude my commentary…

Introduction As was also described in last week’s column, the break-even price as used there, was approached from the perspective of private businesses, and in particular, those who are responsible for operating the business on behalf of its legal owners. In the case of Guyana’s oil and gas, this would be the consortium of foreign…