Transforming Guyana, Episode II: Sovereignty and a developing country’s rights to develop oil & gas sectors
Wednesday, July 13, 2022 @ 10:30 am
Guyana Business Journal Magazine + Caribbean Policy Consortium
Caribbean Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org
Local Content Law: Companies using junior staff to meet senior management quota – Jagdeo: Guyana Times
…but junior staff salaries remain same despite ‘new’ job titles
Despite the Local Content Act, oil and gas companies continue to come up with new ways to bypass the law. According to Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, companies have now taken to using their junior staff to fill up the legally-mandated quota for senior management staff, all while the junior staff continue to collect their original salary. According to Jagdeo during the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Mid-Year Dinner, the fact that Guyana was able to get the Local Content Act passed very early into the development of the oil and gas sector is significant since many countries only pass their local content laws decades into the business.
Options exist to ‘crackdown’ on ‘abusers’ of local content law – President Ali – News Room Guyana
“Absolutely no need to go through any middleman” – Pres Ali to investors: Guyana Times
…could be held accountable for engaging middlemen, lobbyists
President Dr Irfaan Ali has cautioned investors coming to do business in Guyana that there is no need for them to engage middlemen and lobbyists in setting up operations here, declaring that they could be held accountable if caught in any illegal act. The Head of State made this remark in light of allegations made during a broadcast done by the US-based VICE News. In an extended video published last week, a VICE News Journalist went undercover and spoke with several persons from within the Chinese community here and they discussed “working the system”.
Govt prepared to support, sell crude to small refinery: Guyana Times
…several proposals submitted
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has revealed that the Government, which presently has several proposals before it for setting up a refinery, is prepared to support the establishment of a small refinery, and even sell limited amounts of Guyana’s crude to such a refinery. During the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association’s (GMSA’s) mid-year dinner, on Tuesday at the Ramada Princess Hotel, Jagdeo, who was the feature speaker, explained that the Government, in theory, does support the setting up of a small refinery.
Jagdeo assures Guyana’s oil and gas resources in good hands: News Source
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is once again assuring citizens that the country’s oil and gas resources are in safe hands with the government. Speaking during a business dinner hosted by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association last night, Mr. Jagdeo said the government has noted calls on how the oil resources should be spent, but he believes that many of those calls are misplaced and can create inflation and other harm to the country.
Private sector, as beneficiaries of oil wealth, should stand up to anti-oil lobbyists – Guyana VP: OilNOW
The billions of barrels of oil and gas contained in the offshore Guyana basin belongs to the people, including the country’s private sector. In this regard, Guyana’s Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, is calling on the business community to take up a lead role in pushing back against the narrative of the “naysayers and anti-oil advocates” as the country seeks to balance the rapid development of its hydrocarbon resources with its environmental goals.
New Guyana FPSOs to be built with Liza Unity’s record sustainable design – Exxon: OilNOW
ExxonMobil has marked a milestone with the SBM Offshore built and operated Liza Unity floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for its second oil development in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana. It was the first FPSO in the world to be awarded the SUSTAIN-1 notation for its sustainable design and operations. And with 10 FPSOs envisioned to develop the oil and gas resources in the Stabroek Block, Exxon plans to ensure the vessels follow Liza Unity’s sustainable design.
VP to Guyana private sector: Improve financial standing to bridge funding gap: OilNOW
Access to finance has been a major deterrent to local businesses looking to service Guyana’s oil and gas sector. After all, the development cost for just one of ExxonMobil’s offshore projects overshadows Guyana’s annual budgets. Calls have mounted for the government to devise ways to alleviate this proverbial brick wall. The latest came from the President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Rafeek Khan, who floated the idea of creating a revolving fund to Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
Tullow expects results for Beebei-Potaro well in third quarter of 2022: OilNOW
Tullow Oil said it expects drilling completion and results for the Beebei-Potaro well offshore Guyana in the third quarter of 2022. This was stated in its July trading statement and operational update, released on Wednesday. The Beebei-Potaro prospect is targeting around 200 million barrels of recoverable resource. The well will target two main objectives and one secondary objective. The main objectives include one in the Tertiary (Oligocene) and one in the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Campanian).
US$200M more withdrawn from Guyana oil fund: OilNOW
Senior Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh announced that Government has made its second draw down from the Natural Resource Fund in accordance with the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act 2021. The Minister indicated that pursuant to Section 16 of the NRF Act 2021, a further US$200 million equivalent to G$41.6 billion has been transferred from the Natural Resource Fund to the Consolidated Fund to finance national development priorities. It would be recalled that in May of this year, the Government made its first withdrawal of $200 million equivalent to G$41.7 billion.
Evening News – 0:55: Guyana prepared to support, sell crude to small refinery – Jagdeo
Bigger share of oil money now not a good thing: Kaieteur News
…we can’t spend it all, it becomes inflationary – Jagdeo
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is spearheading the development of Guyana’s oil and gas industry believes that calls to halt the developments at the present in order for the country to realise a larger share of its oil revenues sooner, would not benefit the country. He in fact argues that this could introduce added inflationary pressures to the country’s domestic economy. Jagdeo was at the time addressing guests at the annual Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) dinner, held Tuesday night at the Ramada Princess Hotel.
Jagdeo dismisses calls for local content requirements for mining industry: Kaieteur News
In 2021, Guyana passed its local content legislation, which caters to locals getting first preference in the country’s oil and gas sector. The Local Content law is intended to regulate the way companies operate in Guyana’s oil and gas sector; employs persons, buy services and the way that they procure goods. Despite the local content legislation being in effect, there have still been some related issues in the industry and several concerns have been raised.
Mining, quarrying sectors set for massive expansion – GMSA President – Guyana Times
Guyana must keep track of CO2 emissions per capita as oil production, transition to natural gather momentum- UWI Lecturer: Kaieteur News
As Guyana picks up the pace to transition from the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) to natural gas for electricity generation, a University of the West Indies Lecturer, Dr. Lorraine Sobers has cautioned that the country keep a watchful eye on its Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions- a harmful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change- per capita, pointing out that the use of this transitional alternative does not eliminate emissions, but merely reduces it. Sobers on Wednesday appeared on a Guyana Business Journal and Magazine panel that discussed Guyana’s right to develop oil and gas.
GCCI, Attorney General hold discussions on outdated laws, modern legislative framework: News Room
See the full statement from the Attorney General Chambers below:
The Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Mr. Mohabir Anil Nandlall SC, MP, yesterday, 12th day of June 2022 met with members of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI). The GCCI raised several legal issues for discussion relevant to the commercial sector… The following areas of law were highlighted and discussed by the Honourable Attorney General: the soon-to-be-passed Arbitration Bill, which will lay the foundation for a modern arbitration regime for Guyana and the Caribbean;… the Local Content law and regulations; and the E-transaction Bill etc.
Leading the charge, Guyana to host regional solar alliance conference: OilNOW
Guyana received a four-person team from the International Solar Alliance last week in preparation for the Fourth Regional Meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Region of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) to be held from August 3-5 in Georgetown. ISA member states use the regional meeting to review and align their strategic priorities and regional initiatives on solar power generation with ISA goals. From the Latin America and Caribbean
Centre for Local Business Development-Guyana posted: The schedule for the Oil and Gas Seminar Trainings for July is now available! All sessions will be virtual with the exception of HSSE, which will be in person. Please email cecil_maxwell@dai.com to confirm your spot. #CentreGuyana #GreaterGuyanaInitiative #CapacityBuilding
De Novo finds gas in Zandolie off-shore field in Trinidad
