Companies like Rystad Energy want Guyanese to be happy collecting peanuts from ExxonMobil - Dr. Mangal

Companies like Rystad Energy want Guyanese to be happy collecting peanuts from ExxonMobil – Dr. Mangal

Jul 17, 2020 News

-Insists country should take its time in granting project approval
If there continues to be delays in giving ExxonMobil the green light to begin developing its third project, the Payara in the Stabroek Block, Guyana stands to lose significantly. This picture was painted recently by Rystad Energy, a Norwegian research company.

Former Presidential Advisor, Dr. Jan Mangal

In its latest assessment of Payara, Rystad reminded that once developed, Payara is expected to bring up 200,000 barrels of oil per day. ExxonMobil had hoped for approval to be granted last year December. Had its wish been granted, Payara would have been up and running by 2025. In a press conference held earlier this year, it was noted that delays in approval were due to issues that had to be resolved with the Field Development Plan for the project. As a result of this, the project start-date has been pushed back by a year.

Rystad was keen to note that if these delays persist, Guyana which stands to gain US$4.4B from the project could see those revenues diminish substantially. With a six-month delay, it said that the project would generate around US$800 million less than what it would and around $1.6 billion less with a 12-month delay. It also noted that already, Guyana has lost $300m in net present value while adding that more is at stake with the said delays.
Upon noting the foregoing analysis, former Presidential Advisor, Dr. Jan Mangal, took to his LinkedIn Page to express his disgust that Rystad Energy continues to push ExxonMobil’ s agenda in Guyana.
Dr. Mangal categorically stated that in negotiations, countries have a right to delay to get real value. He was keen to remind that Guyana already lost US$55B by rushing deals with ExxonMobil. In this regard, he was alluding to the damning report called Signed Away that was prepared by The Global Witness. That document exposed how Guyana left US$55B on the table due to hurried negotiations for the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). With this in mind, Dr. Mangal posited that the money which Rystad said Guyana is about to lose due to delays is peanuts.
In an invited comment, the transparency advocate said that Guyanese must not be fooled by Rystad and others that it is in the country’s interest to produce oil by any means necessary. He said that oil production must always benefit the people and the country by extension to the maximum. The Petroleum Consultant said that Rystad Energy’s pro-ExxonMobil narrative is simply telling Guyanese that they should be happy with collecting 12 peanuts and if there are continued delays, it could end up with just five peanuts in its hands.
“They would like us to believe that we poor stupid Brown/Black people should be happy to get peanuts whilst the foreign companies make off with 100’s of billions of US$. And no wonder the Granger administration gave away US$55B of what should have come to the deserving people of Guyana because they were fooled. They thought it would win them the election.”
Moving forward, the former Presidential Advisor said Guyanese need to focus on rescinding the awards of the Kaieteur and Canje blocks, and getting a fair deal on the Stabroek Block. “We also need to constrain production from the Stabroek Block. A couple 100,000 barrels per day is sufficient for us, and anything more will make us complete hypocrites as our coastline submerges due to climate change,” the transparency advocate concluded.