Oil deal benefits Exxon and gives little to Guyana – Jagdeo tells Linden rally

May 14, 2023 News

Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo during the PPPC outreach in Linden

Kaieteur News – Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo delivered a fiery speech on Saturday denouncing the lopsided Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed by the previous government with Exxon during a campaign rally in Linden.

“The oil and gas industry that we left because they found oil before APNU got into office, they made a mess of it and in 2016 signed a contract that they hid from the people of this country, that is so lopsided that today, you hear about it every day in the newspapers. That gave most of the benefits to the investors and very little to us and it was a contract signed in 2016… Here in Linden, you know about that,” Jagdeo said at People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) rally in the mining town.

While he highlighted the unfairness of the deal and outlined his party’s efforts with a new model PSA, there was a glaring omission—he failed to mention that the new terms would not be applied to the Stabroek Block.

“We raised the 2 percent to 10 percent now. [We raised] the zero income tax to 10 percent income tax. We have reduced the amount set aside for cost recovery to 65 percent, so that more will come to Guyana, because we are a capable party. We are a capable party that is not compromised,” Jagdeo said.

While these changes conceptually mean to ensure a fairer distribution of benefits, they are so far pointless in practice. Exxon has discovered 11 billion barrels in the Stabroek Block, and those barrels will be exploited at a breakneck pace under the lopsided terms that Jagdeo once described as “shitty”.

Jagdeo stated explicitly when he revealed the new terms last year that they will not apply them to Exxon’s deal. This, coupled with the government’s opposition to Guyana getting an unlimited guarantee from Exxon in case of an oil spill, raises serious questions about the government’s commitment to protect Guyana.

The Vice President also criticised the handling of the US$18M signing bonus by former Finance Minister,Winston Jordan.

“He said he thought it was a gift, the US$18M. So we said this is never going to happen again. We promised in the pre-election period, we said we’d criminalize non-disclosure. So what did we do? As soon as we got in, we reformed the Natural Resources Fund,” Jagdeo said.

He also discussed the efforts the government has made to introduce Local Content Legislation and secure value for Guyanese nationals. He stressed that the government is working hard to defend the interests of the Guyanese people.

Jagdeo is involved in campaigning for Local Government Elections, in which the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) is hoping to make significant in-roads into historical strongholds of the APNU+AFC, including Linden and the city of Georgetown. As the campaign intensifies, voters will need to carefully consider whether Jagdeo’s words match his actions.

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