Guyana needs to know how much was earned

Feb 25, 2020 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

If with less than a week to go before General and Regional Elections neither David Granger nor his minions will tell you, me or anyone else how much money was earned from Guyana’s first lift of ‘profit-oil’, I must beg the question of what level of brazenness has been attained? The front-man for the oil sale, Dr. Mark Bynoe, was inelegant in his evasiveness about what actual profit had accrued to the nation’s coffers, choosing to flay a two-percent straw-man and waffle and wax about tags on meters before disclosing that the sale was based on a “Dated Brent’ agreement with Shell Western and Trading Supply Limited (Barbados).
‘Dated Brent’ describes crude oil to be delivered in the short term, over the period 10 days to one month ahead. The month of February 2020 has been volatile with a 12.8% change in price so far, Guyanese are in the dark as to what actual daily price was utilized and Dr. Bynoe has also not addressed any ‘Premium’ that would be added to the ‘Dated Brent’. In layman’s terms, Brent has a sulfur content of 0.37%. The lower the sulfur content of the oils the ‘sweeter’ the oil and the easier it is to refine; a ‘premium’ or higher price is given for oil with lower than 0.37% sulfur, Guyana’s oil is reportedly attracting a premium of USD 8 per barrel due to extremely low sulfur content. There is a standard formula used based on the chemical analysis done on the cargo. I do not believe that Dr. Bynoe will be forthcoming about what price Guyana got for its oil, nor will he disclose the disparity between whatever is finally declared and what will enter the much-vaunted Natural Resource Fund account in New York. It is too close to the election to reveal the true nature of the sell-off.
Chris Ram speaks of Dr. Bynoe as “A measure of the low rating which Granger places on the national interest is his appointment of a single unsuitably qualified person to head the petroleum sector” but for me, no one picks a patsy of high quality and fish rots from the head; Granger and his clique have cast their die, they have become the ‘Brotherhood of the oil Boat’.
Guyanese will only find out how much has been siphoned from the first oil tanker (and national coffers) if there is a change in Administration via the elections. There will be approximately seventy-eight million barrels of oil lifted between this election and the next due in 2025; I shudder to think of what happens if the exclusive ‘Brotherhood of the oil Boat’ that are unwilling to disclose details of the first million are there for those years.
Guyanese have much to ponder this week; will it be bicycles, buses, and breakfast or will they move to an administration that will deliver based on an all-inclusive platform of equality, a return to One People, One Nation with One Destiny. We have one chance; I urge you to vote for the PPP/C and let us work together and fix it from the 2nd of March onwards.

Respectfully,
Robin Singh

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