Guyana Oil and Gas News

ExxonMobil today said that since 2015 it has spent $45.7b with local vendors and it currently has around 1900 Guyanese in its employ.

Guyana is entitled to five million barrels of oil in 2020 as part of its profit share with ExxonMobil and its partners in addition to the 2% royalty on all production, according to the Director of the Department of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe.

According to Elections Commissioner Vincent Alexander, GECOM has received a request to approve proxy votes for the hundreds of Guyanese currently working on ExxonMobil’s  offshore oil platform.

The Global Witness report that shows Guyana has potentially lost US$55 billion from the oil deal with ExxonMobil would have been more effective if it was released after the March 2nd general elections as it could have been used to pressure whichever government wins in its dealings with the oil major, thus helping shape public policy.

Nearly two years after it was first proposed by the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), a system of Direct Cash Transfers has found favour with the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC). 

Dear Editor, The use of the term ‘bridging deed’ for what is essentially a new petroleum prospecting licence was initially puzzling until I examined the laws governing the sector.

Presidential hopefuls from five of the smaller new parties contesting the general and regional elections all have on the agenda the renegotiation of the oil contracts and the need for supporting other industries through revenues received from the oil & gas sector.

Anti-corruption watchdog group Global Witness has recommended that more effort be put into the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) investigation of the awarding of the licences for the offshore Kaieteur and Canje oil blocks, saying that key participants, including former Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud, have not been questioned about the process.

Acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire has declared that Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd (Hess) and CNOOC Nexen Petroleum Guyana Ltd (Nexen), do not need separate environmental licenses to conduct oil production here since they are covered under the licence issued to ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (Esso).

The Civil Defence Commission yesterday hosted an oil spill tabletop exercise the aim of which was to test and develop Guyana’s oil response capability.

The third draw of crude oil in the Stabroek Block will be lifted early next week after government and ExxonMobil have settled on a value for the oil being extracted from the Liza field and this will go to Guyana.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) yesterday emphasized that Article 21.1 of the Purchase Agreement between the Government of Guyana and Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEGPL) defines the tax relationship between the company and its sub-contractors.

OpenOil, the Germany-based consultancy which generated the analysis that suggested that the 2016 deal with ExxonMobil could deprive Guyana of US$55b, yesterday defended its work.

Government yesterday defended its decision on the 2016 renegotiation of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) and partners, saying it was in Guyana’s best interest.

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana today flayed the government over the 2016 deal with an ExxonMobil subsidiary saying that recent revelations on it by the NGO Global Witness were disturbing and the buck stops at President David Granger.

A Cabinet-sanctioned review of the circumstances leading to the signing of a new Petroleum Agreement with ExxonMobil’s subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) in 2016 has concluded that the agreement was negotiated and executed in accordance with the law though a lot of pressure was placed on government for a speedy signing prior to the scale of the “world class” Liza-2 discovery becoming fully known and understood.

The Government of Guyana yesterday said it had entered a “fair” agreement with an ExxonMobil subsidiary for the country’s first oil block and it rejected a report by anti-corruption watchdog Global Witness (GW) which said that inept negotiation of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) could have cost the country as much as US$55b.

Director, Department of Energy, Dr Mark Bynoe on Monday congratulated 800 applicants registered in an inaugural Oil and Gas e-Learning training courses for capitalising on the opportunity to obtain training and certification in the petroleum sector.

The Government of Guyana today rejected a report by anti-corruption watchdog, Global Witness which said yesterday that inept negotiation of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with an ExxonMobil subsidiary could have cost the country as much as US$55b.

Research company, Rystad Energy said today that Guyana’s oil production is projected to be 1.2 million barrels per day by 2030 and that total annual oil revenues could approach US$30 billion within 10 years.