Local Content Policy... Energy Dept. fails to justify secrecy provisions

Local Content Policy… Energy Dept. fails to justify secrecy provisions

Feb 20, 2020 News

By Kiana Wilburg

The first two drafts of Guyana’s Local Content Policy were prepared by Trinidadian Energy Expert, Anthony Paul. He never included a word about confidentiality provisions in an effort to ensure all stakeholders can be held accountable.

Energy Department Head, Dr. Mark Bynoe

When UK Consultant, Dr. Michael Warner, who has ties to ExxonMobil, was handpicked to finish the policy, confidentiality provisions became a key feature. But why was this allowed? What is so “confidential” about knowing the extent to which Guyanese have benefitted from the sector?
Upon perusing the 2020 Local Content Policy for plausible answers, it was only stated that these provisions are due to “legal constraints.” For a more defined understanding, Kaieteur News by way of email asked Energy Department Head, Dr. Mark Bynoe, to provide an explanation for this since independent research as well as interviews with industry experts could not explain this conundrum.
That email was sent on February 16, last. A response was tendered by the Energy Department via a statement to the press yesterday.
Unfortunately, the Energy Department still failed to explain why exactly the confidentiality provisions were used. Instead, it said what Kaieteur News already knew and reported on, which is, the provisions were used since “legal constraints” prevent full disclosure of local content reports and statements submitted by companies.
The Energy Department said that while the 2020 Local Content Policy does contain the confidentiality provisions, there still exist several mechanisms for public disclosure. It said these are as follow – “To the general public, the extent of adherence of an Operator to the requirement to submit a yearly Local Content Plan complete in all regards, and half-yearly reports; (ii) to the general public, a yearly summary of performance in the form of a Local Content Utilisation Report, provided by the Operator to the Minister and (iii) upon request to the Oversight Committee.”
Kaieteur News has made it clear, however, that the citizenry deserves full disclosure and not a “summary” of the information so that it can be in the best possible position to hold all stakeholders involved accountable.
After perusing the release, this newspaper informed Dr. Bynoe via email that the response from the Energy Department fails to address the issue at hand, which is—why was a provision that was never part of the first two policy drafts, now part of the final document?
Dr. Bynoe was therefore asked to state what exactly are the legal constraints that prevent the full disclosure of the report, to name which other local content policy in the world was used for reference to support the inclusion of the said clause into ours, and finally, with which international best practice is this in keeping with.
In response, Dr. Bynoe who has over 25 years of experience in academia said, “The Department of Energy (DE) acknowledges receipt of your letter of Feb 19, 2020. We have a responsibility to inform and educate as we deem necessary and our public responses tend not to refer to any particular medium or media entity.
“The specific questions you have now raised will receive our attention and the response will be remitted when it is prepared.”
In the statement that was issues yesterday, the Energy Department stated that the extent of disclosure of Local Content Plans and reports is always a sensitive matter, and a balance is therefore needed between total disclosures on the one hand and legitimate confidentialities on the other.
It said that this is no different for Guyana while noting that, “the current policy has had to walk this difficult line.”
The Energy Department reiterated, nonetheless, that Guyana’s 2020 Local Content Policy remains “a live document”.
It said that stakeholder comments on any aspect of the policy, including levels of disclosure continue to be welcomed by the Department. Whether additional comments are tendered or not, the department reminded that it is committed to continuous revisions as conditions evolve in the sector.

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