2024
GPL will be paying up to US$50m to Qatari contractor for power ship that will sail off in two years
Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc. has contracted a floating electric power station (‘power ship’) from UCI, a subsidiary of UCC Holding, a Qatari company, to provide additional electricity to Guyana’s electric power grid, which has recently been failing in a spectacular manner resulting in multiple hours-long power blackouts for GPL customers. Regarding the costs…
Government should take over Hess’ share
The disagreement involving the three Contractors under the 2016 Agreement (Exxon Guyana, Mobil, Hess and CNOOC) and Chevron over the friendly takeover of Hess by Chevron has gone to arbitration in the United States. There is nothing to indicate that the Irfaan Ali Administration has expressed any interest in the matter before the Arbitrators, although…
Gov’t’s proposed oil spill legislation is a pathetic betrayal of Guyana, taking precedence over Justice Kissoon’s decision to the satisfaction of Exxon
In subservience to Exxon and realizing that they will lose the legal battle, the Government now plots its heralded scheme for an oil spill legislation to nullify Judge Kissoon’s decision decreeing that an Unlimited Parent Company Guarantee (referred herein as UPCG) must be provided to bear the full cost of any oil spill, above what…
No other current issue of greater import I can think of other than Jagdeo’s attack on the country’s judiciary and the troubling silence emanating since
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has made a searing attack on a ruling by a High Court judge in the Teachers’ strike case in which the underlying issue is free collective bargaining. Despite not having read the judgment, Mr. Jagdeo yet felt comfortable using words like ‘appalling’ and ‘presumptuous’. However couched, this has to be seen…
Guyana has the legal means to deal with law-breaking ExxonMobil Guyana Limited
Kaieteur News on 13 April reported, ‘ExxonMobil, EPA a no-show again at Natural Resources Parliamentary meeting’ (https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2024/04/13/exxonmobil-epa-a-no-show-again-at-natural-resources-parliamentary-meeting/). Through your pages, I call on our elected parliamentarians and staff of the National Assembly to use the legal procedures to require both ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) and the EPA to obey the law of the land. Standing…
EMGL’s audit non-responsiveness showcases the government’s unwillingness to protect the interests of the Guyanese people
Recently, it was reported that the auditors appointed by the Government of Guyana to audit the books of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) have been denied access to pertinent oil reports and associated cost information ((See Anand Gool-sarran’s Report, “The audit report on Exxon’s post-contract costs (Final Part)”, https://www.stabroeknews. com/2024/04/08/features/accountability-watch/the-audit-report-on-exxons-post-contract-costs-final-part/). Similar difficulties were observed on a US$214.0…
Guyana’s storage and emissions of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas
I offer the following clarifications to apparent misunderstandings by President Mohamed Irfaan Ali in his encounter with BBC ‘Hard Talk’ journalist Stephen Sackur (KN, ‘Bring it in – President Ali’s seminal defence of Guyana’s road map’, 01 April 2024) and by General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo in his weekly Press encounters (DPI, ‘Guyana will remain a…