French oil major Total yesterday announced it had signed an agreement for a stake in an offshore Suriname oil block and will pay a signing bonus of US$100 million on closure of the deal.
The payment of this signing bonus for a pre-oil stake in an offshore block will raise eyebrows here. Guyana ended up with US$18 million in a post-oil signing bonus which was later styled as a legal fund to assist with fees for its border controversy case with Venezuela. Critics have long argued that inept negotiating by Guyanese officials resulted in the country losing out on what should have been a much higher signing bonus and a larger royalty rate.