Level of naivety – ROBIN

“After signing the Stabroek Petroleum contract extension, Raphael Trotman said two things that show the thinking of the Granger Administration, (A) “we should – given our relative size, a nation with under one million people, our relative underdevelopment and our relative inexperience – try to stabilise our relationship rather than go out and quote 15 and 20 companies to come into our waters and develop the resource” and (B) “We were already receiving 50 per cent of the profits as an equal partner, having not sunk a single cent into the development of the block”. Both of these statements show a level of naivety that has cost Guyanese dearly.”

“In the first statement lies a colossal error; Guyana should have insisted on relinquishment provisions in the Stabroek contract and then invited all International Oil Companies (IOC) to an auction. Brazil called its auction that raised 25 billion a failure; Granger hailed 18 million a success. Guyana’s oil is of better quality and easier (cheaper) to access than Brazil’s. A ‘Golden Gateway’ opportunity lost.”

“The second statement states factually that Guyana will receive 50 per cent of profits. What Trotman failed to grasp is that ‘cost oil’ contains hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings for ExxonMobil employees. The Operator benefits tremendously during the exploration phase also, thousands of ExxonMobil employees earn hefty salaries during the exploration, development, design, and extraction of oil.”

“Guyana pays these bills by way of pre-contract costs and the cost oil. The shareholders of ExxonMobil (CNOOC, HESS) and Guyana split the profits equally, but not the benefits.”

ROBIN SINGH