Diaspora seen as pivotal to Guyana’s oil future

Whether Guyana becomes “immensely rich or just another Trump-hole” from oil revenues depends largely on its ability to attract specialty experience and competencies in industry and sectors here, says business website Bloomberg. “Guyana could attenuate the brain drain by reaching out to its diaspora,” Bloomberg yesterday reported. “There are more than 100 reported expatriate organizations,…

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‘No prospect’ at this time of Exxon contract review – President

Despite noting that there is “no prospect” at this time for a review of the controversial Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between the government and a subsidiary of oil giant, ExxonMobil, President David Granger said yesterday that the matter is engaging the attention of Cabinet “These matters are before Cabinet and it depends on what determination…

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Correct ExxonMobil contract …or it will be an uphill struggle to get other companies to do better

Chartered Accountant Nigel Hinds is pleading, once again, with the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil to negotiate the “lopsided” Petroleum Sharing Contract (PSA) that they signed in 2016. Hinds said that along with the many ills of the contract, the APNU+AFC government needs to realise that if it does not fix the contract, other companies…

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Financial Times: How Guyana can avoid the curse of oil – The commodity can bring both wealth and trouble and it is easy to think of countries that have been damaged by its discovery

The hottest new prospect for the world’s oil industry is Guyana, a small, relatively poor, country on the north-eastern coast of Latin America. Over the past year, a series of discoveries by ExxonMobil have identified 3.2bn barrels of oil in the Stabroek block around 120 miles offshore. Given Exxon’s traditional caution, the actual reserves could…

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People pressure can force changes to Exxon contract – Jan Mangal -says 2% royalty way below global standard

Stating that the 2% royalty on oil from ExxonMobil was way below global standards and that the tax regime should have been greater, Presidential Advisor on Petroleum, Dr Jan Mangal says pressure from the citizenry has the potential to influence government to revise the contract with the American company. “Don’t underestimate the power that people…

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