ExxonMobil contract with Guyana… Trotman’s actions make him a liability to Guyana – Ram

Sep 28, 2017 News, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...ility-to-guyana-ram/

Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, has missed a most significant opportunity to correct two major errors committed by the PPP regime in relation to the ExxonMobil contract with Guyana.

During the tenure of the PPP, ExxonMobil was given 600 blocks. This is ten times more than the law stipulates. The nation’s rules and regulations also stipulate that at every request for a renewal, the company is expected to relinquish half of the oil blocks it started with. But the PPP made an adjustment to the contract, thereby allowing the company to hold on to the 600 oil blocks.

In the new agreement that was signed last year under the Granger administration with ExxonMobil, Trotman failed to address or redress the aforementioned problems.

Taking this into account, Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram has characterized Trotman as a liability to Guyana.

The attorney-at-law made this comment, among others, last night.

Ram noted that unless the Minister can provide a satisfactory explanation for why he failed to correct the wrongs of the past, then he should be removed from office. The Chartered Accountant expressed the view that if Trotman can act in this manner then there is no telling what else he would not do.

Ram also criticized the Cabinet subcommittee which has been appointed to address all matters in relation to the oil and gas sector. That committee is referred to as the “Quintet Plus One.” The members include Finance Minister, Winston Jordan; Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman; Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin, and Advisor to the President on oil and gas, Dr. Jan Mangal.

Ram said that the quintet plus one surely has a responsibility to respond to the concerns that are being expressed in relation to Trotman and the ExxonMobil contract. He said, too, that an explanation must be provided on why the Attorney General, Basil Williams, and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge are not part of that group.

The anticorruption advocate said, “You have people in it and I don’t know how much of a contribution they are making there. The quintet needs to be reconstituted. It ought to have competent advisors as well. Let me also make it clear that Ram is not promoting himself. I am not looking for anything because that is what they are quick to say when criticisms like these are raised.”

To understand Trotman’s actions and the magnitude of it, Ram said that some background information regarding the timelines of ExxonMobil’s contract is vital.

Ram noted that on June 14, 1999, a Petroleum Agreement and Prospecting Licence was signed by former President Janet Jagan for approximately 600 blocks for ExxonMobil.

According to Guyana’s laws, oil companies should only be given 60 blocks. If the company receives more than this, then it would be only under special circumstances. Ram, however noted that it would be extremely difficult to justify giving a company 10 times the number stipulated in the law.

He noted, too, that those who agreed to this decision should be made to explain.

In October 2008, Ram notes, there was an Addendum and Extension Deed to the Petroleum Prospecting License for ExxonMobil. This adjustment to the License modified the Contract Area, the relinquishment obligation, and the initial period of the agreement.

“The law requires that any extension (to such an agreement) be accompanied by a reduction of 50% of the remaining blocks still covered by a Prospecting Licence, so that at the first extension, 300 blocks should have been given up. One can only speculate that the modification in 2008 was to provide that such relinquishment would not apply.”

Ram said that the Natural Resources Minister missed a significant opportunity to correct the aforementioned errors when he renewed the contract for the company last year.

In fact, the Official Gazette of August 2, 2016, reveals that the new agreement was signed between Guyana and Exxon and its Joint Venture partners on 27 June 2016. That document has not been released to the public or the National Assembly.

Be that as it may, the Chartered Accountant stressed that the Contract Area in which the company operates offshore and the relinquishment obligation were modified by the PPP/C and are serious matters which Trotman had an excellent opportunity to address, if not redress.

Significantly too, the Chartered Accountant said that Trotman, in wasting such a golden opportunity to correct the mistakes of the PPP, has also given ExxonMobil a monopoly on petroleum in Guyana for the next 30 years.

ExxonMobil contract with Guyana… Trotman’s actions make him a liability to Guyana – Ram
Sep 28, 2017 News, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...ility-to-guyana-ram/
Ram also criticized the Cabinet subcommittee which has been appointed to address all matters in relation to the oil and gas sector. That committee is referred to as the “Quintet Plus One.” The members include Finance Minister, Winston Jordan; Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman; Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin, and Advisor to the President on oil and gas, Dr. Jan Mangal.

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