Many Guyanese are now aware of some version of the natural resource curse (NRC). One taxi driver explained the idea to me last week and he also gave the Dutch disease a good shot. Economists have been pondering these ideas for at least three decades. They, however, tend not outline the transmission mechanisms of the…
I have followed with deep interest, the recent warranted upsurge in public outcry from experts and affected populations of all walks of life in Guyana, the Region, and other international communities calling for full insurance coverage in the event of an oil spill. However, there appears to be some confusion, misinformation, and missing facts in…
Reuters reported that oil prices edged up on January 10, 2018 to a near two-and-a-half year high after data showed strong demand for crude imports in China and increased US refining activity that drew more crude from inventories. The current price of WTI crude oil was US$66.15 per barrel. Pipeline outages in Libya and the North Sea…
Kaieteur News – Even though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already approved an application by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited – ExxonMobil Guyana – to transport natural gas from the Liza Fields in the Stabroek Block to the Wales Development Site, West Bank Demerara, the operator is still in the process of completing its…
There is a mystery unfolding in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Officials there seem to have removed the United States from a singularly successful anti-corruption effort. This has happened largely in secret, aside from a few public statements in legalese that are nearly impossible to parse. At times, bureaucrats in the department have behaved in…
During their first few months of life, young fish are called ‘fry’; most do not survive to adulthood. The idiom, ‘small fry’, has been used to refer to children and people of low status since the 14th century in England and is perhaps derived from the ‘fry’ of fish. Artisanal fishers in Guyana are treated…
I refer to a press release from the Department of Public Information dated 06 July on the illegal sale of carbon credits from forests on titled Amerindian Village Lands. The press statement mainly includes legally incorrect and misleading statements by the Vice-President, and which are damaging to Amerindians. Does Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo understand that a…
Contrary to much of the callous and unfair criticism that the current government has received I have measured their ‘works’ against their critics and I am confident that this regime will deliver a return to a sense of law and a better feeling about being Guyanese. Their infrastructural works are testimony to it, and they…
I noted with interest the use of taxpayers’ money by the Department of Environment and Climate Change for a full-page advertisement in the Stabroek News, ‘Erroneous forest carbon analysis by Dr Janette Bulkan’, (06 January 2023). This undated ‘public release’ advertisement addresses only 4 of the points made in the SN Daily Feature ‘Jurisdictional forest-based…
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…
