Guyana begins producing oil with ‘bad habits’

Dec 20, 2019 News

…look at how we handled mining & forestry—Dr. Mangal

By Gary Eleazar

The former Petroleum Advisor to the President, Dr. Jan Mangal, believes that Guyana is beginning on its path as an oil producing nation with some ‘bad habits,’ with regards its regulatory practices.
Dr. Mangal made this comment in a recent interview with Kaieteur News recently—ahead of first oil.
The petroleum expert in seeking to elucidate his position said, “Look at how we handled gold mining and forestry?”
According to the former petroleum advisor to the President, the challenges that have manifested in the industry illustrate “that our regulatory environment has not worked, for decades.”
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) is tasked with regulating the new extractive industry but according to Dr. Mangal, “GGMC, I view it as a den of corruption.”
Qualifying his position on Guyana’s bad habits Dr. Mangal noted,”If we have decades of this stuff going on, the bodies there that are responsible are obviously not working.”
Drawing reference to imminent first oil and the country’s regulatory capacity, Dr. Mangal said, “That is what we have to start with and then we want to regulate oil.”
He was adamant that there needs to be an overall revamping of the agency in order to fix the existing problems, something “that we should have been doing since 2015 (when oil was first discovered).”
Dr. Mangal was adamant if the deficiencies are not corrected, “oil will shoot past us like that; all the money will end up in Exxon’s pocket and in the pockets of the elite and the corrupt.”
GGMC is currently facing an administrative probe reportedly ordered by President David Granger into alleged corrupt practices at the agency.

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