Dear Editor,
Interests in oil blocks should be awarded in ways that maximise the value to the resource owner, that is, to the country and its people.
Countries maximise their resource wealth by directly hiring competent and reputable contractors to help develop their resources.
Conversely, countries degrade their resource wealth by hiring unknown contractors who have no track record producing hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil in applicable environments, and who do not have billions of US$ in assets.
It is common in the oil industry around the world, especially in countries with weak institutions and a high prevalence of corruption, for government officials to act in ways which do not maximise the resource wealth to the country, and instead, act in ways which enrich themselves and their cohorts in the private sector.
Any action by a government official which does not maximise the benefit to the country from its resource wealth, will be seen as a serious dereliction of duty on the part of the government official, and likely will require prosecution and redress to rebalance the distribution of the resource wealth.
Government officials in Guyana awarded numerous blocks to companies, and sometimes to individuals, who had zero track record producing oil and who had no assets. Hence, these government officials may have acted so as to degrade the resource wealth of the country, and instead maximise the returns to the companies. Therefore, these government officials were likely in dereliction of their duties and were likely out of compliance with their responsibilities as public servants.
For there to be justice for the country and the people, and for wrongs to be corrected, officials must be prosecuted and applicable awards of oil blocks must be rescinded. Subsequent officials who have not addressed these issues may themselves be seen as responsible.
Some of the companies with interests in deep and ultra-deep water oil blocks in Guyana, who did not have track records of producing hundreds of thousands of barrels per day and who did not have billions of US$ in assets, are listed below.
Canje Block:
Mid-Atlantic Oil & Gas – no website found
JHI – www.jhiassociates.com
Kaieteur Block:
Ratio Energy Ltd, Ratio Guyana Ltd – www.ratiopetroleum.com
Cataleya Energy Ltd. – no website found
Orinduik Block:
Eco Atlantic – www.ecooilandgas.com
The government officials directly responsible for the awards above were former Minister Robert Persaud and current Minister Raphael Trotman.
Yours faithfully,
Jan Mangal
