Regulatory body for environment must be free from politics...Independence is key - Mexican Oil Expert

Regulatory body for environment must be free from politics…Independence is key – Mexican Oil Expert

May 28, 2018 News

A robust and proactive regulatory body is central to protecting any environment that will facilitate the oil and gas sector.
But if this environmental body is to do its job effectively, it must be independent. It must be free from any instance of political interference. This is according to Executive Director of Agency for Security, Energy and the Environment (ASEA) of Mexico, Carlos De Regules.
During an interview with Kaieteur News recently, Regules said, “Guyana has an opportunity to make it right from the start because you have a clean sheet of paper for this sector. So before achieving full scale development of the oil and gas resources, Guyana has the chance to create an institutional framework that will make the sector stakeholders operate in a responsible manner…”

Executive Director of Agency for Security, Energy and the Environment (ASEA) of Mexico, Carlos De Regules

The Mexican official added, “But one of the ingredients of this institutional framework will be astute and honourable regulators. One of the characteristics of a good regulator is independence. You want regulators who are defining the rules for the long run, to be independent from the political cycle. They should also be financially independent so they can plan for the long term and have the resources to do so.”
Regules said, “The sooner you are able to provide the rules of the game then the sooner oil and gas investors will be able to make investment decisions that are based on a sound regulatory framework.”
In addition to this, the Executive Director of ASEA said that the Government would be able to provide the people of Guyana with the certainty that there are regulators and institutions in place that will take care of the environment.
Regules concluded, “It is a good moment for Guyana but don’t wait too long to regulate it.”
Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has faced criticisms from various sections of society, all of which highlight the fact that it is unprepared to deal with the challenges of an oil sector. EPA’s laws are not only outdated in several respects but fail to address the needs of a demanding oil industry. The Authority also lacks capacity to properly review Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for oil companies. In fact, it had to leave the evaluation of ExxonMobil’s EIA for the Liza Phase Two Project in the hands of another foreign company. The contract for that project was awarded last several weeks ago.

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