Mr. Anil Nandlall S.C. Attorney General and principal legal adviser to the Government has written rather disparagingly about comments I made in my last Friday‘s Stabroek News oil and gas column. Without naming me or addressing any of the extensive data, sources and arguments I used in arriving at my findings, he claims that my…
There are many tricks the salesman has studied to close a lucrative deal. These range from projecting a sense of authority; playing the reciprocation game; and creating a sense of urgency. In the negotiations with the oil companies, we have fallen prey to these social psychology tricks. We need to recognise these tricks to avoid…
Oil companies exist for the sole purpose of making money. To get their vast profits, oil companies have exterminated massive amounts of precious biodiversity through oil spills and petrochemicals, including by-products such as plastic and artificial “fertilisers”. Oil companies have lied about global warming while pushing us into catastrophic climate change. ExxonMobil has been implicated…
Introduction A number of readers have indicated to me I should have placed much more emphasis on the great extent to which the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) fiscal rule for natural resources revenue management,no longer finds favour, even among its most ardent initial supporters. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a good example of this….
Parliament’s decision to create—what amounts to—a zero tax clause in the petroleum production agreement keeps power and wealth in the hands of its foreign counterparties and contributes to Guyana’s economic inequality. Additionally, it stagnates the potential for sustainable economic growth here in the local land. While the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) should be…
Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Column 128 Introduction The two previous parts on this subject carried on Tuesday (21st.) and Wednesday (22nd) dealt with the first of two documents published in the Official Gazette a week earlier. These were the Guarantee and Indemnity Agreements by the oil companies with…
A month ago, a letter writer in the Guyana Chronicle made false claims upon which he accused me and other members of civil society of being treasonous and betraying the country. I enclose the link to that letter (see below writer’s name), which was also published in the Guyana Times. I wrote a response, which…
You extracted from a press release by the Office of the Vice President in your article ‘APA withdraws from Carbon Credits appeal process’ (SN October 30, 2023). The Vice President’s Office is yet again misleading the people of Guyana by implying that the National Toshaos Council (NTC) has authority to surrender control to the Guyana…
The passage of time has seen our oil discoveries exceed six billion barrels. Our commentators, with great zest and zeal, protested the unconscionable contract’s plunder and robbery of our oil resources by ExxonMobil and their minions, with a 2% contract that has now withered down to appeals for Local Content, Ring Fencing, Tax Stabilisation Removals,…
