Latest update May 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 05, 2024 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas
“Whichever number it is, it puts us as a country with that larger volume in a stronger position to ask and demand renegotiation so to try to avert that they would like to give us the impression that all we have is this finite number of 11B barrels and that we should be contented with what we have but that’s not true.” – David Patterson
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana (GoG) is deliberately keeping the nation in the dark on its estimated oil reserves discovered by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) in the prolific Stabroek Block as this would force the administration to seek a fairer share of benefits for this nation.
This is according to former Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson. During an Alliance For Change (AFC) press conference on Friday, the Member of Parliament said “something ain’t right” about the explanation provided by the Head of EMGL, Alistair Routledge and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo that the country’s reserves have not significantly grown since April 2022, following eight new discoveries.
Patterson said it was unbelievable that three years ago, the Stabroek Block held an estimated 11B barrels and although eight significant discoveries were announced by Exxon, the nation is being informed that there is “no significant increase.”
He pointed out that the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed in 2016 with the company clearly defines a discovery of commercial grade of which Exxon has now reported eight significant finds.
Patterson argued that the Head of Exxon Guyana, Alistair Routledge recently sought to “kerfuffle” the public with a “disingenuous” explanation of resources versus reserves.
The politician explained, “Every country, there is proven reserves, the benchmark is proven oil reserves, not proven oil resources…I think Exxon’s Head was trying to be disingenuous and trying to use language to kerfuffle the public but you cannot. You have proven oil reserves; it is quite easy…I have seen reports from the Ministry of Natural Resources when we were there, they gave estimated reserve numbers.”
He said the company and government have the country updated estimated oil reserves but are deliberately keeping the country in the dark.
“They don’t want to disclose it and I think 15B (barrels) is a very conservative estimate. They don’t want to disclose it…until after the 2025 elections because if they disclose the true value of their assets at the moment, the call for renegotiation will resonate even louder,” the former Minister noted.
Patterson told reporters that Exxon at the behest of the government is concealing the country’s reserves which could be as much as 20B barrels now.
Recently, Chairman of Wales Development Authority, Asgar Ally said that some 15 billion barrels of oil have been discovered to date in the Stabroek Block, although Exxon and Jagdeo have said there was no significant increase to the last resource update of 11B barrels in 2022.
According to Patterson, “Whichever number it is, it puts us as a country with that larger volume in a stronger position to ask and demand renegotiation so to try to avert that they would like to give us the impression that all we have is this finite number of 11B barrels and that we should be contented with what we have but that’s not true.”
Meanwhile, former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dr. Vincent Adams pointed out that estimated oil reserves could be calculated within days.
A passionate Adams said, “I used to be a senior reservoir engineer with Exxon’s competitor, British Petroleum and that was my job to calculate reserves and I say that to let you know, it doesn’t take two years to come up with the reserves.”
He said the team would make preliminary determinations within days to estimate a discovery. In fact, he challenged, “How come to arrive at the 11B as soon as there was a well that was drilled right after that well was drilled, we were getting an update…what happened in two plus years now? What happened to all these additional discoveries?”
With a growing number of oil discoveries in the lucrative Stabroek Block, Guyanese and international experts have all been calling on government to renegotiate the deal to secure more benefits for Guyana and its people, since the contract mostly favours ExxonMobil and its co-venturers.
When the Coalition government signed the contract, two discoveries were made totaling approximately three billion barrels of oil. To date, over eight billion barrels more have been found offshore in the 26,800 square kilometers block, increasing Guyana’s total proven reserves to over 11 billion barrels of oil.
Jagdeo while wearing the cap of Opposition Leader prior to August 2, 2020 said, “They sold us out to the foreigners. The oil companies, every time there is a find out there, our people should be sad because nothing comes our way. We are gonna renegotiate those contracts because that’s not what we had in mind.”
He added, “When we were in the early days, we were coaxing the people (ExxonMobil) to go along. They (Coalition) came into office – three billion barrels of proven reserves and they gave up zero royalties, no taxes, no ring-fencing.”
Although reserves have now more than doubled, the PPP government refuses to engage the operator of the Stabroek Block for a fair oil deal.
Public Servants salary can double overnight by just fencing the oil projects.
May 18, 2024
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