World Bank, Chatham House reps had called publishing oil contracts a bad idea – Former Presidential Advisor

Kaieteur News – Former Presidential Advisor on Petroleum, Dr. Jan Mangal, said that representatives from Chatham House and the World Bank told him it was a bad idea to publish the contracts Guyana signed with international oil companies (IOCs) for the rights to operate their respective blocks. The comment is included in a public LinkedIn…

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Change in US administration has potential to improve Guyana’s negotiating strength versus oil companies

This letter includes my commentary to The Dialogue (https://www.thedialogue.org/energy-advisor/) on the current state of Guyana’s oil industry (published on 27-Nov-2020). The questions concerned oil production, impact of low oil prices, future oil development, and how the new PPP government is managing the industry. My response: “Only Liza 1 has reached production, yet ExxonMobil’s operations made…

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Approval of Payara project by PPP without trying to renegotiate contract for Stabroek block is a very sad event for Guyana

There seems to be some confusion around what was actually approved with Payara in recent days, or what it means. Simply, the approval of the Payara project (or development), which is the third project in the Stabroek Block, is not an oil agreement nor an improvement of an oil agreement, and does not improve the…

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Robert Persaud quietly awarded the Canje/Kaieteur oil blocks to non-entities in 2015 days before his party lost the election, and then ExxonMobil quickly bought into these two blocks

People are now saying VP Jagdeo is a sell-out to ExxonMobil.  But I disagree, because the PPP leadership forfeited the interests of the poor people of Guyana to ExxonMobil since 2015. Robert Persaud quietly awarded the Canje/Kaieteur oil blocks to non-entities in 2015 days before his party lost the election, and then ExxonMobil quickly bought…

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Illegitimacy, sanctions attract corrupt business partners in oil sector – transparency advocates

Former Petroleum Advisor to the Granger Administration, Dr. Jan Mangal and University of Houston Instructor, Tom Mitro, are in agreement that an illegitimate government suffering from the imposition of sanctions can easily attract members of the petroleum underworld. These experienced consultants posit that a country in such a weakened state is likely to give almost…

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Companies like Rystad Energy want Guyanese to be happy collecting peanuts from ExxonMobil – Dr. Mangal

If there continues to be delays in giving ExxonMobil the green light to begin developing its third project, the Payara in the Stabroek Block, Guyana stands to lose significantly. This picture was painted recently by Rystad Energy, a Norwegian research company. In its latest assessment of Payara, Rystad reminded that once developed, Payara is expected…

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