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Energy Dept. fails to reveal key details on crude sale to GY-EITI
By Kiana Wilburg
When it came to the fore that Guyana would be selling three million barrels of its share of oil from the Liza Phase One Project to Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited (SWSTL), the local chapter of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was adamant that it needs to know the details of this transaction. According to the GY-EITI Head, Dr. Rudy Jadoopat, its desire to be informed would be in keeping with the rules of the EITI which states that natural resource sales must be disclosed.
GY-EITI Head, Dr. Rudy Jadoopat
But since making the request in January to the Energy Department, Dr. Jadoopat said that he has not received the information that was promised. In fact, it was clear during the interview that Dr. Jadoopat and his Secretariat were not even informed that Guyana had received US$55M for the sale of crude to SWSTL which is based in Barbados.
Prior to contacting Dr. Jadoopat, Kaieteur News had confirmed with Bank of Guyana officials that the money for the sale of one million barrels was received and deposited into the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) which is being held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This information was not reported to the Secretariat which has a responsibility of noting all payments received by the government.
Speaking to the request he made, Dr. Jadoopat said, “We requested information in January and they (Energy Department) pledged to give it to us. We were supposed to get a detailed step-by-step account on the agreed price for Guyana’s oil as well as its quality. We also wanted information which would help us determine if we actually got the best deal and
Energy Dept. Head, Dr. Mark Bynoe
the best price. I am concerned about that. Guyana needs to know that the best efforts were put into this sale and that we got the best possible return.”
Further to this, Dr. Jadoopat said he had expected to receive the information long before any deposit was made into the NRF account. The official was also keen to remind that the disclosure of information to the GY-EITI is in keeping with the rules Guyana’s government said it would honour.
According to Requirement 4.2 of the EITI Standard, “Where the sale of the State’s share of production of oil, gas and/or mineral resources or other revenues collected in kind is material, the government, including state-owned enterprises, are required to disclose the volumes received and sold by the state (or third parties appointed by the state to sell on their behalf), the revenues received from the sale, and the revenues transferred to the state from the proceeds of oil, gas and minerals sold. Where applicable, this should include payments (in cash or in kind) related to swap agreements and resource-backed loans.”
The Standard goes on to state that , “The published data must be disaggregated by individual buying company and to levels commensurate with the reporting of other payments and revenue streams (4.7). Multi-stakeholder groups, in consultation with buying companies, are expected to consider whether disclosures should be broken down by individual sale, type of product and price.” (SEE LINK FOR MORE DETAILS : https://eiti.org/document/eiti-standard-2019#r4-2)
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