Govt’s meeting with British expert was publicity stunt

Mar 23, 2018 ExxonMobil, News

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo holds up media reports on Government’s special caucus on oil and gas with British expert Sir Paul Collier.

Govt. gets ‘F’ grade for handling oil and gas sector – Jagdeo
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday gave the David Granger–led administration an ‘F’ grade for failing to implement much-needed initiatives in the oil and gas sector, almost three years into their term.
At a press conference yesterday, Jagdeo dismissed Wednesday’s special caucus organized by the Government with oil experts, including British expert Sir Paul Collier, as a publicity stunt.
During the meeting, President Granger outlined Government’s vision for the sector.
“The big vision that the President lays out for oil and gas sector…We need to educate ourselves, work on a framework and protect our resources, and on all three points that he made they have received an F grade on everyone of them,” Jagdeo stated.
Jagdeo pointed out that the Petroleum Commission, the Sovereign Wealth Fund and a plan for the future oil resources have not been established.
“This framework should have been in place,” Jagdeo pointed out.
He indicated that the Government has been slow to implement the framework – hence, the Ministry of Finance was upset when the US Ambassador, Perry Holloway raised questions about the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
“The President woke up a week ago, organized this [meeting] and realized that we need the organization and the structure to manage the [oil] resource. What have we been doing for three years as a country? Jagdeo questioned.
The Opposition Leader pointed out that Wednesday’s caucus was part of the Government’s plan to educate Cabinet Members, but noted that cabinet members are now educating themselves after signing a post-oil discovery contract with ExxonMobil and its partners that will remain in place for the next 40 years.
“It is a public relations show, because even if the people bring the best practices from around the world and speak to this Cabinet about it, there is no guarantee that they will implement any of those things, because they have been given world class advice prior to this and they have until now ignored it. There is absolutely no guarantee. It is a show. They are just parading the people to say they are doing something about the sector,” Jagdeo stated.
The Opposition Leader made the case of Dr. Jan Mangal, who is Petroleum Advisor to President David Granger and whose services are being paid by the Inter-American Development Bank.
Jagdeo noted that Dr. Mangal has already advised that the remaining oil blocks should be auctioned and he was excluded while he was advisor from the negotiations with ExxonMobil.
While the president is looking to international experts, Jagdeo pointed out that the Government has not held meaningful consultations locally with the opposition and civil society.

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