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Guyana missed golden opportunities to have National Oil Company with interest in offshore blocks –Ramson Jr.
Oil and Gas Consultant, Charles Ramson Jr.
By Kiana Wilburg
The Coalition Administration has been toying with the idea of establishing a National Oil Company (NOC) for more than two years now. But to date, there has been no material movement on this front.
In fact, Oil and Gas Consultant, Charles Ramson Jr. told Kaieteur News last night that such an entity, which can have interests in the offshore oil blocks, should have been in place a long time ago.
But the government allowed several opportunities to slip through its hands where this is concerned.
The Oil and Gas Consultant said, “When it comes to having a National Oil Company, there are different models. You have the fully integrated model, which does exploration, production and everything else…
“Then there is the other model, which sees it operating as a company that has an interest in every block.”
The lawyer continued, “The government has not discussed the various models they are looking at so I don’t know what they are going to do but as it stands, there has been no attempt to capture any interest on any of the blocks.
“And the government missed several golden opportunities to do so. They had an opportunity just before they were awarding the contract for the Orinduik Block to Eco Atlantic and Tullow in 2016.”
Ramson added, “Opportunities also came when they signed approvals for other companies to farm into the offshore oil blocks, when they signed licences and even when they were renegotiating the contract with Exxon Mobil for the Stabroek Block…”
The Oil and Gas Consultant said that while the government could still move ahead with having a NOC, the real benefits is in having an interest in the blocks, and that time he said, has passed.
Ramson said that a country having the opportunity to be a partner in the offshore blocks with international oil companies allows for a presence at the table when major decisions have to be made. The lawyer posited that having a seat at the table also allows for the country’s institutional capacity to be developed.
In 2017, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, assured that by 2018, a NOC would have been established. To date, the Government has not informed the nation about the progress it has made on this front, specifically as it relates to the model that would be employed.
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