Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 21, 2018 Letters
Dear Editor,
I write this letter because I cannot let deception veiled in questionable objectivity sit quietly.
In recent letters to Kaieteur News and to Stabroek News, both dated August 17, 2018, Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, declares that, “The public deserves a more complete picture.”
The picture he is referring to is the total revenue that Guyana will receive from the Petroleum Agreement annually, which the Government has projected to be US$1B.
To paint this picture, he first takes the following scenario proposed by Mr. Nigel Hinds as his muse:
“Considering that US$1B requires revenue of US$50B, when selling 500,000 barrels per day in 2025 as projected by Exxon’s Esso, then computing at US$70 per barrel, using a 360-day year, Exxon’s Esso claims revenue subject to royalty less than or equal to US$12.6B, on which the crumbly 2% royalty amounts to US$252M.”
Then, with the pen as his brush, Minister Gaskin attempts to complete the picture by accounting for the 50/50 profit-sharing component of the oil revenues, extrapolating that Guyana would receive US$1.752 Billion rather than US$252M.
Unfortunately, in addition to adopting a cost per barrel much higher than projected, his extrapolation assumes that ExxonMobil will not grossly take advantage of our lack of expertise by reporting deflated profits from which we take our 50%.
Considering the 2% royalty that ExxonMobil has subjugated us to, his assumption is obviously foolish.
From the debunking of this assumption, the profit-sharing component is rendered as trivial as the US$18M signing bonus and other scraps that Minister Gaskin failed to mention. Thus, the picture he paints for the public is in fact not complete; 50% of zeros still zero.
However, whether complete or incomplete, there is something fundamentally wrong with this picture.
And therein lies the heart of the deception we must unveil. Even if we assume that US$1B is available to be given annually from oil sales directly to the Guyanese people, is that all we are worth for our country’s outstanding wealth of oil?
While Guyana has signed to earn 2% royalty, a percentage far below the normal touchstone, Ghana earns 10% royalty and Texas earns 25% royalty.
We are being exploited. We are being robbed.
Minister Gaskin distracts us from our worth, to save face. My Guyanese brothers and sisters, we must paint a new picture that reflects what we truly deserve.
We must wield our brushes and our voices, dipping into the red, black, golden, white, and green of our flag and what those colours mean.
Nicel Mohamed-Hinds
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 29, 2024
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