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This secret “oil trip” of five Government Ministers to Texas
Dear Editor,
In an article which appeared in KN on August 13, it was reported that five senior ministers in the APNU/AFC Govt. are on an official visit to ExxonMobil Headquarters in Texas, USA, apparently to familiarize themselves with oil and gas matters as they relate to the development of oil-fields off Guyana’s coast.
The Ministers’ visit was treated as a state secret as Guyanese are usually informed prior to any overseas visit of Govt. officials and the reasons thereof. By design, however, no prior information was given to the public on this occasion.
This secret visit by a large contingent of Government Ministers to the headquarters of ExxonMobil, a company with which the Government is conducting business, raises a number of troubling issues.
Firstly, Guyanese would like to know who is picking-up the expense tab for this costly group trip of Government officials since if it is ExxonMobil, conflict of interest issues evidently arises which can compromise future negotiations on such issues as revenues sharing, EPA rules enforcement, etc.
Secondly, no technical professional was allowed to accompany the delegation to discuss such topics as production schedule, gas disposal, waste disposal, after the crude is separated, etc. as much of this information is not incorporated in the Contract Agreement between the Govt. and ExxonMobil which continues to be a state secret.
The APNU/AFC Govt. should be transparent and inform the people as to the reasons for this visit of five of its most senior ministers to ExxonMobil Headquarters in the USA, the topics which were discussed and the agreements which were made, if any.
This will assure Guyanese in no uncertain way that the Government is not, “hand in glove” with ExxonMobil, a company which will soon be a large generator of much of its revenues. After all, Guyanese should the conscious of the sharing and disappearance of oil extraction revenues by large overseas companies operating in Nigeria, Angola, Sudan and elsewhere in the world.
Charles Sohan
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