First Oil reception was a celebration of betrayal and negligence-Ramson

Jan 19, 2020 News

The cocktail reception that was held on Friday last in honour of First Oil at the Guyana Marriott, was actually a celebration of a sellout, betrayal, and negligence on the part of the government says Opposition Member and Petroleum Academic, Charles Ramson Jnr.

Attorney-at-Law and Petroleum Academic Charles Ramson Jnr.

The Attorney-at-Law—who, like his other PPP colleagues, did not attend the event— said that a celebration would have been warranted if a good deal was had for Guyana’s oil from the get go.
Ramson said, “Every single commitment to prepare for first oil has turned out to be a missed milestone leaving us unprepared and the oil companies in a perfect position to take away our resources… What is there to celebrate, when unlike other countries, we are receiving way less than we deserve?”
Further to this, an impassioned Ramson highlighted the fact that despite several promises, Guyana is without a Local Content Policy which increases the opportunities for locals to have maximum benefit from the sector. He reminded that this is another failed promise of the Granger administration yet it has the audacity to be in celebration mode.
The Attorney-at-Law said, “Here it is we have political elites and Government elites celebrating on the very same day that a tanker comes to receive the first million barrels of oil for ExxonMobil. So really, it is a celebration not for first oil which occurred since December 20, 2019; it is a celebration for ExxonMobil and our government gleefully participates in the total disregard of their responsibility which would be to manage the sector well and to secure good deals for us.”
In addition, the Opposition member commented that the only citizenship participation was the observance of fireworks at an elitist celebration.
“So while champagne and crab cakes and expensive shrimp are being consumed at the Guyana Marriott by all the foreign investors, the Guyanese people are left with a display of fireworks which is symbolic of the exploding dreams that Guyanese will get if the sector is not managed well and right now it is totally unprepared for oil,” the Opposition Member concluded.