Guyanese will have information on oil and gas contracts 'in time' - Trotman

Guyanese will have information on oil and gas contracts ‘in time’ – Trotman

Nov 02, 2017 News

Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman

The requests by concerned citizens for more disclosure from the Government regarding all oil and gas contracts have been overwhelming.
As such, the Natural Resources Minister will be seeking guidance from Cabinet about all details pertaining to the contract Government has particularly with USA oil giant, ExxonMobil.
He told Kaieteur News yesterday that he has “every confidence that in time, the citizens of Guyana will have full access to everything.”
In the meantime, Trotman said that he will refrain from further commenting, particularly on statements from some sections of society that are based on “hearsay”.
The Minister made this particular declaration in relation to recent comments by Chartered Accountant, Chris Ram.
On his blog, www.chrisram.net., the tax expert said that many are aware of his strong conviction that there was absolutely no reason for the new Petroleum Agreement that the Government signed with Exxon and its joint venture partners. He said that mystery surrounds the reason for the new agreement.
Ram said, “A source has indicated to me that the reason is not as mysterious as it may seem. Indeed, the explanation offered to me is very simple. The Government of Guyana used the excuse of a new licence to extract a signature bonus, a payment made by a contractor on the signing of an Agreement to take up any given number of blocks. The figure I have been told is US$20M.”
If this information is accurate, the Chartered Accountant said that the question is, “To whom was the payment made?”
“While an early Budget is a commendable achievement, the possibility of transactions not being properly and fully accounted for, must not be discounted because of the incomplete fiscal year…Here is the question: “Was Guyana paid a signing bonus on signing of the secret Trotman Agreement, and if so how, when and how is that money accounted for?”
Ram continued, “It would be folly to think that our new found status of membership at the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) will lead to any significant enhancement in terms of disclosure and accountability. There is simply no sign of any willingness on the part of this Administration.”
The Chartered Accountant added, “…(Furthermore), Trotman and the others must have known that the number of blocks granted to them (ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners) by (former President), Janet Jagan under the now displaced 1999 Agreement, was far in excess of what the law permitted and that those blocks could always be challenged.”
Ram said that a cynic might say that US$20 million is a small price to pay to lock in a huge portion of another country’s petroleum resources.
The Chartered Accountant concluded, “In fact, with what we now know, that is a real bargain!”