Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 08, 2020 News
By Kemol King
Government should put the Stabroek Block agreement to referendum, and let the people decide what should be done with the contract, suggests Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer.
The businessman, who currently serves as Chair of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), appeared on last Tuesday’s edition of Kaieteur Radio’s Petroleum 101.Invited to comment on the deal, the National Hardware owner said that it would benefit Guyana to do a comparative analysis of Guyana’s Stabroek Block deal and other contracts across the region, such as from its neighbour to the East, Suriname. Sharing the Guyana-Suriname basin, the Dutch-speaking country has managed to secure a deal with the developers of its very lucrative Block 58 that would allow the State to take home 36 percent of the revenue from the sale of the crude. Guyana, on the other hand, is taking home 14.5 percent of the revenue from the sale of the Liza crude currently being produced in the Stabroek Block.
The rest is going to ExxonMobil, the operator, and its partners, Hess and CNOOC.To many in Guyana, the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed by former Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, is lopsided and should be renegotiated. To ExxonMobil and its joint venture partners, paying a mere two percent royalty and benefitting from a permanent tax holiday, among other enviable terms, the deal is a steal. The companies have boasted about Guyana being a priority in their portfolios.
While Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has criticised the deal, he has refused to renegotiate it, only offering that the Irfaan Ali administration will seek to renegotiate every other deal.
He even recently acknowledged that the deal is bad, but rebuked propositions to have it renegotiated. There were advocates for the approval of the Payara development permit to be used as a bargaining chip, so Exxon and its partners would come to the negotiating table. Jagdeo said that proponents of that were engaged in wishful thinking.
Deygoo-Boyer said that that the government of Guyana is a representative of the voice of the people, and that if the people say they want the contract renegotiated, the government will have to act in accordance. “If you talk to the average man on the street,” he said, “they’ll say let’s renegotiate the contract.”
“What you want to [say] to the international investors,” Deygoo-Boyer explained, “is that if the population of Guyana wants the government to do something, they have to act. They cannot run from the fact that, that is what the people of Guyana want them to do.”
In February, Deygoo-Boyer had expressed his disapproval with the contract, on Petroleum 101. He had said that the government negotiators let Guyana down.
The businessman has stressed the importance of hiring expert negotiators who are able to represent Guyana’s interests well.
A report released earlier this year revealed that there wasn’t much negotiating done, to speak of. Global Witness said that Trotman negotiated the deal in 2015 in an unusually short period, ignored expert advice and left US$55B on the table, while in Texas on a luxurious Exxon-paid trip.
Kaieteur News has been on the forefront exposing over the years various provisions in the Stabroek Block deal which render it sub-standard and outdated. The agreement governs the likely development of more than eight billion proven oil-equivalent barrels, said to be Guyana’s ticket to prosperity.
Referenda have been used to decide matters of national interest. In 2016, the United Kingdom allowed the public to vote on whether the country should leave the European Union. A slim 52-48 vote in favour of leaving, set a series of processes in motion for Britain to eventually leave the EU.
Other high profile referenda include the 2015 Irish vote to allow same sex marriage, and the recent Swiss vote to set the minimum wage at the equivalent of US$25/hr, believed to be the highest in the world.
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
Apr 19, 2024
SportsMax – West Indies Women’s captain Hayley Matthews delivered a stellar all-round performance to lead her team to a commanding 113-run victory over Pakistan Women in the first One Day...Kaieteur News – For years, the disciples of Bharrat Jagdeo have woven a narrative of economic success during his tenure... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]