Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 03, 2018 News
By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell
Attorney-at-law, Charles Ramson is worried that if the Government of Guyana does not buckle down soon and put things in place, Guyana will become—in local parlance— the “eye pass” of international oil companies.
Ramson recently told Kaieteur News that Guyana’s preparedness is not in keeping with what is expected of a nation so close to first oil. He said that the number of needed policies and pieces of legislation are still not in place, “and quite frankly, this state of affairs is overwhelming for anyone who knows what can be the consequences. But, on the other hand, it is a haven for oil companies who are kept on their toes in other more watchful host countries.
Ramson noted that government is yet to make a decision about having a National Oil Company; there is no local content policy; no national oil spill response plan, no modern law for the protection of the environment; no Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Environmental Protection Agency still needs strengthening and the Guyana Revenue Authority is still in early training for its oil and gas unit “and that is just a few things I pointed out there.”
Ramson said that it is never a good idea to allow oil companies to self regulate, “and that is basically what we are allowing now.”
Further, Ramson said that in addition to the policies and pieces of legislation that government needs to put in place, to force oil companies to act right—like the local content policy and updated environmental regulations—”we still need to put things in place to help ourselves manage the money, like the Sovereign Wealth Fund, which they are calling the National Resource Fund.”
Ramson said that there is enough information available about the fate of countries that are not prepared to deter government from being “so slothful, but they continue; I cannot understand why.
The lawyer noted that Guyana’s regulatory bodies still need to be adequately strengthened.
He pointed to the fact that a few months ago, three years after oil was discovered, the government admitted that low capacity at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) caused them to award a contract to Ramboll US Corporation to effectively evaluate the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Esso Exploration and Petroleum Guyana Limited (EEPGL).
That EIA focuses on the Liza Phase Two Development Project of ExxonMobil and its partners. EEPGL is a subsidiary of USA oil giant, ExxonMobil. Ramson noted that it was the same EPA that approved EEPGL’s first EIA, even though it lacked the capacity to properly analyze the document. “I am telling you, there is no regulatory regime”, said Ramson.
Ramson then turned his attention to the absence of a Local Content Policy.
He said, “I think that Guyana needs more than a policy to guide local content; we need legislation. But this government still cannot get a completed policy in place, and this is three years later.”
Ramson continued, “…then there is a Sovereign Wealth Fund, where is the policy? Then there is the National Oil Company that they still cannot decide on at yet, this is something we need to decide on soon”.
Ramson noted that there are different versions of oil companies. He said that, “Guyana has to figure out quickly if it wants to become an operator itself, like Norway has Statoil, which is a fully integrated oil company that explores and produces. It will take us about 10 years to take our self up to the level of expertise to be able to be operators ourselves, employing mostly locals. Or does Guyana want a company focused mainly on having a share in oil blocks distributed?”
He said that in the latter choice, “you do not need employees to do a lot of things that we are not capable of doing at the moment. But, you have more say. Not sitting at the table when they are making decisions for exploration or drilling leaves us in a disadvantageous position. We are not able to have a say. There is economic information that we would not have by virtue of not being a partner on that block. But my point in all this is to note that having a state oil company has been mentioned by this government as being explored, but there is no decision as yet. We need decisions and actions on this and other matters in the oil industry; that is the only way we can protect it.”
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 20, 2024
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