Energy Dept. seeks administrator for EITI 2018 report

Aug 28, 2019 News

Government had applied to the World Bank for US$20M loan for its Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project (GPRGMP), to use for several energy-related initiatives. The money is being disbursed in tracts, according to each project’s needs.
One of those, to come into play soon, is the preparation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) 2018 report.
Government is seeking an independent administrator to do the job. The administrator would have to prepare a Gap analysis that considers the study’s scope and present reality, review all the relevant legislation to ensure conformity with EITI standards, then produce the country’s second EITI report in 2020.
Also pertinent to the administrator’s job is the identification of actions to be taken to deal with the recommendations of the previous year’s report, as it had pointed out a series of issues which need urgent attention.
Unlike the previous report, Guyana will now be required by the EITI’s 2019 standards to have a publicly available register of the beneficial owners of corporate entities that apply for or hold a participating interest in an exploration or production oil, gas or mining license or contract. Guyana must also include the identities of the beneficial owners, the level of ownership and details about how ownership or control is exerted.
Where possible, it expects that beneficial ownership information should be incorporated in existing filings by companies to corporate regulators, stock exchanges or agencies regulating extractive industry licensing. Where this information is already publicly available, the country’s EITI report is expected to include guidance on how to access this information.
Further to this, Guyana is required to document the government’s policy and multi-stakeholder group’s discussion on disclosure of beneficial ownership. EITI said that this should include details of the relevant legal provisions, actual disclosure practices and any reforms that are planned or underway related to beneficial ownership disclosure.
Furthermore, implementing countries are required to disclose information related to all contract and licence awards and transfers; provide a description of the process for transferring or awarding the licence; disclose the technical and financial criteria used; offer information about the recipient(s) of the licence that has been transferred or awarded, including consortium members where applicable; and release any material deviations from the applicable legal and regulatory framework governing license transfers and awards.
EITI has now also made it a requirement for Guyana and other member states, to have companies operating within the jurisdiction, publicly disclose their audited financial statements or the main items (i.e. balance sheet, profit/loss statement, cash flows) where financial statements are not available.

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