Guyanese need the release of the Exxon contract and to know if a signing bonus was paid
Stabroek News’ ‘Politikles’ cartoon, on the heels of its report that Petroleum Advisor to the President Dr Jan Mangal, said “I believe that all contracts should be made public,” adequately sums up the current state of affairs– the Minister of Natural Resources is running from transparency and accountability. Why isn’t the Coalition government listening to…
Guyana has crucial advantages which should pave the way to renegotiate the Exxon oil deal
In February 2018, Exxon produced a 20-minute Facebook video in which its stated purpose was to address questions concerning the Oil Contract, Revenues and Taxes. At minute 10, the presenter declaims: Guyana is a frontier country. And, further states that the Guyanese people should be satisfied with the oil contract. Pronouncing Guyana as a “frontier…
GUYANA RACES AGAINST THE CLOCK TO BANK ITS OIL BONANZA
“Guyana races against the clock to bank its oil bonanza”, is the title of an article by Reuters, published on Yahoo online news (July 18th). The author, Sabrina Valle had a face-to-face interview with Mr Jagdeo in which he said the following (to paraphrase): Mr Jagdeo argued that calls to halt the developments for the…
The oil company does benefit by inflating costs, Guyana must be vigilant
I write in relation to a letter included in the Stabroek News on 28-Nov-2018 with the title `Why would Exxon inflate these costs when it wouldn’t be the one benefitting?’ authored by a Mr Clement Smith. The letter in question makes a number of inaccurate points and I attempt to address these below. In summary,…
Granger promises to prosecute corrupt officials
The oil sector is known for its ability to compromise some of the most “upstanding” politicians on earth. Instances of this irrefutable fact can be found in many countries such as Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Tanzania and Indonesia. As Guyana moves ahead with becoming an oil producing nation, many critics have expressed concern that Guyana’s politicians…
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…
Preparing for oil: More on Guyana seeking membership of the Extractive Industries Initiative
Today’s column continues the discussion of Guyana’s long declared policy option of seeking membership of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as a cornerstone of its approach to governance of the fast approaching time of oil and gas production and export. Last week’s column had started the discussion, but regrettably, due to space, constraints, gaps…