Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 03, 2022 News
By Davina Bagot
Kaieteur News – The protest action, which is being spearheaded by the publisher of Kaieteur News, Mr. Glenn Lall, saw protestors this past week demanding that the oil companies give Guyana more value for its natural resource being extracted daily or “get lost” as an alternative.
Every day for the past five weeks, protestors have been demanding changes in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) that the Government of Guyana entered into with Exxon.
Among the miniscule terms accepted by the government was a mere two percent royalty on its sweet and light crude and a 50 percent profit share, after ExxonMobil deducts 75 percent of the total lifts for its expenses.
Key provisions are also lacking in the agreement such as full coverage insurance for any mishaps offshore to cover any damage, and ring-fencing to avoid the oil company from using the petroleum revenue in one field to cover for expenses in another.
The lack of ring fencing provision can result in Guyana never seeing the returns it was promised, according to one international analyst, Tom Sanzillo.
It is because of these reasons that the citizens joined forces to demand change from their leaders. In fact, the call for such changes is gaining momentum as a civil society body – Article 13 – has commenced its own protest action with plans to it countrywide in a bid to alert Guyanese of the unfair provisions in the oil contract.
Lall’s protest, which was conducted randomly in the past at different points in the city and for several weeks at the Square of the revolution, has for the past few weeks been held at Guyana Shore Base Inc. (GYSBI) at Houston, East Bank Demerara. GYSBI provides support and logistic services to the oil companies operating here.
On Wednesday last, there was drumming to energise the protestors who were also treated to a cool overcast sky. While some waved their Golden Arrowhead in support of the call for a better deal, others held their placards calling out their leaders, while Lall danced from one end of the road to the other in a bid to get the support of passersby.
Some drivers encouraged the protestors by honking their horns, and others even slowed down to offer remarks.
The peaceful protestors displayed placards some of which stated: ‘Why should we carry Exxon on our backs’, ‘Parasites cannot do business here’, ‘Exxon is a known predator’, ‘Where are the books of this nation’ and ‘If you stand now your children will be comfortable’.
Kaieteur News would have exposed that the PSA for the Stabroek Block is one of the world’s worst provisions when compared to 130 other deals in the world. For example, the PSA sees the government paying the contractor’s income tax out of the country’s share of the profits. However, none of the 130 PSAs examined shows this arrangement.
Further, the PSA is the only one out of 130, which has very moderate work obligations for contractors who are vested with offshore licences.
Additionally, the Guyana-ExxonMobil PSA is the only one out of 130 contracts, which has no ring-fencing provisions to prevent costs of unsuccessful wells being carried over to that of successful wells. There is also no sliding scale for royalty to increase as production improves.
And that is not all. Guyana’s PSA is the only one out of 130 in the world that allows insurance premiums to be fully recovered as well as interest on loans and financing costs that are incurred by the contractors.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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