Commentator Christopher Ram has questioned the wisdom of Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman signing a new contract with ExxonMobil, arguing that the opportunity was lost to correct some obvious errors in the original pact.
The new agreement which Trotman signed on behalf of Guyana with Exxon and its joint venture partners on June 27, 2016 is the one which yielded an increase in the royalty rate of 1% to 2%. The government has steadfastly refused to release this agreement.
Writing in his oil and gas column in Friday’s Stabroek News, Ram said that the big question was why Trotman signed a new agreement with Exxon almost a year after it had notified him of the discovery of oil in significant quantities.