5th June 2020David MalpassPresidentThe World Bank1818 H Street,Washington DC, NW 20433 Dear Mr Malpass,Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project (P166730) (Guyana Project)IDA: promoting an increase in greenhouse gas emissions from GuyanaWe are concerned that the Guyana Project contains a fundamental misunderstanding of Guyana’s legal regime. If so, it will lead to an increase in…
Global Witness has revealed that Guyana stands to lose at least US$55 billion from the current 7.9 billion barrels in the Stabroek Block. The major political parties have not indicated that they will renegotiate the atrocious Stabroek oil contract. But the Guyanese people have other choices. Leaders of both the Change Guyana party and the…
Early Saturday morning, Nigel Hinds and a number of his colleagues were in Guyana handing out food to the homeless. We saw several pictures on the world- wide Internet. We find the pictures very moving. But more than that: they capture for us a sense of incompetence and negligence by the Government of Guyana.Given we…
Under Melinda Janki’s letter (SN: 18/08/19), I asked several questions: What royalties are we getting on one million barrels of oil? Is it 250 barrels or 2,000 barrels? Is the royalty assessed on barrels sold? If only 1,000 barrels are sold, does this mean royalty would be assessed and paid on only 1,000 barrels? Mr…
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…
Here is an idea that should be given top priority. Guyana needs to build up an entrepreneurial class. Guyana needs to develop a class of Guyana’s Product Brands. (Currently Guyana has only one such brand -15-year-old rum. Europe and North America cannot get enough of Guyana’s rum). Guyana needs a dozen new export products not…
On June 1st, 2018 the Stabroek News published an article discussing a report by Norway’s Rystad Energy. Other Caribbean newspapers have published similar articles. However, there appears to be inconsistencies in the report that need clarification. Here are a few points of concern: It was stated that Rystad is forecasting 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) in…
I have just read an interesting account of Cost Recovery as provided for by the Profit Sharing Agreement between GoG and the Oil Company. (KN Feb. 10th, Pre-contract cost… US$460M seem to have been pulled from an alternate universe – Nigel Hinds). It appears every penny incurred by the Oil Company – including interest cost…
A contract was signed in June 2016 between the coalition government, ExxonMobil and its partners in the Stabroek block. Why did this contract dealing with the exploitation of the nation’s natural resources remain a secret for over a year? This does not augur well for the future transparency of the oil industry. In Article 15…
There is a joke that you may have heard in some accounting classes. During an interview, prospective candidates were asked what was 2+2. The engineer answered 4, the journalist 4, and the lawyer 4. The accountant leaned over and whispered, “I can make it any number you want”. There is a great point behind this…
