Guyana Oil and Gas News

Introduction The main focus of today’s column is to wrap-up consideration of the World Bank’s Staff Conclusions reached in its Guyana SCD (Systematic Country Diagnostic), 2020.

As the 30-day timeframe winds down for the implementation of Justice Sandil Kissoon’s ruling on ExxonMobil’s parent company guarantee, the US oil major yesterday said that should their appeals fail and parent companies refuse to supply one, it could lead to the halting of operations at the Liza 1 Phase 1 project in the Stabroek Block.

ExxonMobil has submitted its responses to the findings of the US$7.3 billion audit for 2017 to 2020 and hinted that disagreements over revenue for blocks may be a hiccup but stated that it expects negotiations on the queries be completed in a few months.

Fifteen days after a historic High Court decision finding it in breach of insurance requirements for the Liza-1 well, ExxonMobil yesterday announced that it had filed its own appeal against the judgment.

ExxonMobil’s annual general meeting on May 31st will see at least two demands from shareholders on the ramifications of the landmark decision by Justice Sandil Kissoon requiring it to provide an unlimited parent or affiliate company guarantee to indemnify and keep indemnified the EPA and the Government of Guyana.

ExxonMobil Guyana and its reporting contractors have spent more than $80 billion (US$400 million)  with more than 1,500 Guyanese businesses in 2022 alone.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not been granted a stay of the High Court ruling ordering it to enforce the liability clause in permits it issued to ExxonMobil Guyana for its offshore oil operations.

 (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N today settled a long-running human rights lawsuit with villagers who claimed soldiers Exxon hired to guard a natural gas facility in Indonesia committed murder and torture.

Part 2 Introduction Today’s column focuses on Chapter 4 of the Guyana SCD 2020.

Local anti-corruption body Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) has said that going against its own citizens in appealing the ruling requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce the liability clause in the permits issued to Exxon-Mobil Guyana, shows a government that doesn’t care and reeks of political opportunistic behaviour.

Dear Editor On May 3, 2023, the courts in Guyana ruled that ExxonMobil must provide an unlimited oil spill guarantee to the country.

Introduction For readers’ benefit today’s column is devoted to providing careful reporting on the queries and policy prescriptions on offer in the first three chapters of the World Bank’s Staff Guyana SCD Report,2020.

ExxonMobil says it is reviewing Wednesday’s court ruling by Justice Sandil Kissoon, which found the company in breach of its insurance obligations for its first oil project Liza 1, a decision that can have major ramifications.

Although not a party in the action brought against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo confirmed that the government supports appealing the ruling that ordered the agency to be compliant with the liability clauses in ExxonMobil’s permits.

In the action brought against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce the liability clause in the permits issued to ExxonMobil Guyana for its offshore oil operations, Justice Sandil Kissoon, in a ruling yesterday, said the EPA, which he described as “submissive,” had abdicated its responsibilities “…thereby putting this nation and its people in grave potential danger of calamitous disaster.”

Part 1 Introduction As revealed in this column series thus far, in early 2020, extractivist and neoextractivist-oriented interpretations of the series of prolific oil reservoirs discovered offshore Guyana have already yielded the transformative notion of Guyana as a rapidly emerging Petrostate.

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) yesterday announced the approval of the Uaru Field Development Plan (FDP) and the issuance of the Uaru Petroleum Production Licence to ExxonMobil’s subsidiary here, EEPGL. 

Just over a year after it applied,  ExxonMobil Guyana has gotten a five-year environmental permit for the Uaru project – what would be the fifth oil extraction operation in Guyana’s waters – and a parent company insurance guarantee is to feature for the first time.

French oil and gas company, Bourbon Marine & Logistics, on Monday announced that it had entered in a joint venture with the Guyanese company, Tethys Marine & Logistics, to form Bourbon Guyana, and that 75 per cent of its directors would be locals.

STRASBOURG/SAPPORO,  (Reuters) – A commitment from the Group of Seven wealthy countries to phase out fossil fuels faster has been welcomed as a potential step towards a global deal for all countries to do the same, but is facing criticism for not matching the pledge with firm action.