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20 things President Irfaan Ali can do to fix past mistakes with the oil industry and set the stage for a prosperous future for all of us
President Irfaan Ali
1) Review of the Local Content Policy 2020: This document that was completed by an ExxonMobil associate, Dr. Michael Warner, does not have provisions which put Guyanese first in the industry. It does not even require that oil companies and their subcontractors to ensure that at least one percent of the services, which they use belong to Guyanese. It also hides from public scrutiny, all reports submitted by companies on their local content efforts. Kaieteur News examined more than 30 policies across the world and none of them included such provisions.
2) Putting in place appropriate technology offshore to monitor the measurement of oil remotely.
3) Design a roadmap to use a portion of the oil money to build sustainable industries
4) Outline benchmarks for Corporate Social Responsibility
5) Establish a Depletion Policy
6) Establish a Decommissioning Policy
7) Outline a structure for what is to be expected in Field Development Plans
8) Strengthen key auditing agencies, specifically the Office of the Auditor General
9) Strengthen institutions that will be responsible for the expenditure of the oil money-including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Ministry of Health.
10) Improve Guyana’s capacity to monitor and record emissions offshore, particularly in the case of the Environmental Protection Agency
11) Provide resources to the EPA so that it can make unannounced visits to the FPSOs while following safety standards.
12) Hire technical experts needed within the Ministries of Natural Resources, EPA, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) etc.
13) Improve and make public, Guyana’s National Oil Spill Contingency Plan
14) Review massive tax concessions/ tax holidays. Example: provisions in oil contracts that allow tax exemptions on capital gains tax, personal income tax and withholding tax
15) Update policies/laws/regulations regarding direct and indirect transfers of interests in offshore blocks
16) Establish a Petroleum Commission
17) Implement software solutions for compliance monitoring and for operating requisite controls for expenditure of oil money
18) Update laws and regulations to address issues of ring-fencing, transfer pricing (and other financial loopholes/issues), health and safety of workers, monitoring of the environment (regarding issues such as flaring and stiffer penalties for such infractions), pre-qualification criteria for oil blocks, etc.
19) Outline a vision for the oil sector following consultation with citizenry
20) Strengthen and increase systems for reporting on decisions in the oil and gas industry
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