When the revised Petroleum Commission Bill returns to Parliament later this year, not only would it have significantly reduced the powers of the subject Minister, it also incorporates clauses aimed at ensuring its independence, transparency and accountability.
Provision has also been made for at least two women to be on the Board of Directors of the Commission and the bill now caters for both genders, according to excerpts of the reviewed Bill seen by Stabroek News.
Moreover, and considering that Guyana is a frontier oil and gas country with no data on petroleum, a recommendation by the World Bank, which helped with the review and redrafting of the Bill, states that Guyana should establish “and manage a national data repository for digital/soft petroleum data, including digital/soft data as well as hard/physical data such as core samples, cuttings and fluid samples, and manage and undertake research of the petroleum data and a central database of operators and other persons involved in petroleum activities.”