Dr Valerie Marcel, Chatham House fellow and project head of the New Petroleum Producers Discussion Group, has denied advising government to establish a National Oil Company (NOC), contrary to what Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman has reported.
“For the record, I advised the Govt of Guyana on the risks and rewards of various NOC models. Some looked better than others, for sure, in the #Guyana context. But I wouldn’t say to a govt you should or should not establish an #NOC…,” Marcel said on Twitter, in response to a July 2nd, 2018 Stabroek News report.
On the issue of the establishment of an NOC, Trotman had told this newspaper that although the establishment of a NOC is not in the government’s immediate plans, there will be one formed sometime in the future and he noted that it had been advised by several international organisations that it was the way to go.