Ex T&T Energy Minister, local content expert, among six on Local Content advisory panel

Aug 28, 2020 News

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President Irfaan Ali yesterday announced his appointment of six individuals to an advisory panel on local content.

The list is constituted by Trinidadian energy strategist, Anthony Paul; former T&T Energy Minister, Kevin Ramnarine; former Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge; former President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Shyam Nokta; US-based Chartered Accountant, Floyd Haynes; and trade unionist, Carvil Duncan.
The panel is tasked with executing consultations and reviews, and making recommendations to inform the country’s local content policy.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that local content legislation is one of the government’s priorities where the oil sector is concerned.
The government has constantly been urged to renegotiate the Stabroek Block agreement for the betterment of the people of Guyana, but it has indicated that local content is the area it will heavily focus on, instead for a better deal.
The panel is notably constituted by a majority of Guyanese, as well as experts from Guyana’s close sister state, Trinidad & Tobago.
Jagdeo had noted the need for local expertise in the management of the sector.
“I strongly believe,” President Ali is quoted as saying, “that Guyanese must play an integral role and benefit from the fortunes of the sector.”
The President reportedly acknowledged that there is a lot to be done, and committed to working towards capacity building, and technology transfer and partnerships for the development of a proper policy.

The panel will be chaired by Nokta.
The Government heaped accolades on his record on the environment. It noted his academic qualification in the areas of Environmental Assessment and Management, and Environmental Studies, his many awards and scholarships, and his two decades of experience working in environmental assessment and management, conservation, tourism development and climate change.
Nokta has worked on several environmental and adjacent initiatives in the past in service to his country, including serving as Advisor to the President and as Head of the Office of Climate Change.
More recently, Nokta served as the President of the GMSA, and is currently the Chief Representative for the Caribbean for the Delhi-based Energy and Resources Institute.
Greenidge has extensive experience in politics and governance. He is an economist who was Finance Minister from 1983 to 1992. He was the Secretary General for the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. He served as Opposition spokesperson on Finance and International Economic Cooperation, and as Foreign Affairs Minister, then Foreign Secretary up until the 2020 elections.

Greenidge’s history in oil is not without controversy. He was accused by Former Presidential Advisor, Dr. Jan Mangal of displaying the most resistance in the former David Granger government, to the publication of the controversial, lopsided agreement with ExxonMobil for operations in the Stabroek Block, and the US$18M signing bonus.
Both matters were kept hidden from the public for over a year.
Greenidge has otherwise been retained by the new administration to serve as Advisor on Borders to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is expected to continue to be instrumental in the efforts to protect the Essequibo region from Venezuela’s claims.
The Government touted the 30 years of experience of Haynes, who is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner, with a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard.
It is noted that Haynes is an adjunct Professor in Finance, and Accounting at the University of the District of Columbia and a public lecturer in Leadership and Management. He is also the founder and President of Haynes Incorporated, a Washington-based international accounting and management consulting firm, and a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Ramnarine served as Energy Minister at T&T from 2011 to 2015.
The Government said that he created a positive climate for investment during his tenure, including the fiscal reforms, which resulted in major investments in deep-water exploration. Prior to being appointed Energy Minister, he held positions in the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago and at British Gas where he worked as the Lead Economist.
With a Master’s Degree in Petroleum Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Business (M.B.A.), Ramnarine has worked as an energy consultant and as a lecturer at the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business, following his time as Energy Minister.
In 2014, he was named “Energy Executive of the Year” by the Petroleum Economist magazine.
Paul worked with Guyana previously, when he created two earlier drafts of Guyana’s local content policy, including mechanisms to avoid shackling Guyana to confidentiality provisions, which would have provided for transparent reporting by oil companies on their local content commitments.
However, the former APNU+AFC government ignored the policy, replacing Paul with Dr. Michael Warner – a UK consultant affiliated with ExxonMobil who later removed Paul’s safeguards.
The Trinidadian also notably was hired by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to conduct a rapid analysis of Guyana’s oil industry’s regulatory framework in 2016. In addition to pointing out loopholes to plug and urgent legislative updates to be made, Paul noted the need for a National Upstream Oil and Gas Policy, a document to guide the development of Guyana’s petroleum legislation and regulatory framework.
Paul has about four decades of experience in extractive sectors. He has worked with oil major, BP, and several governments. Paul formerly served as an advisor of Chatham House, and is a governing board member of the Natural Resource Governance Institute. His most recent work is with the Government of Mozambique as an Advisor.
Duncan is the former Chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC), former Director of Guyana Power & Light (GPL), and current President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FITUG). Notably, Duncan’s time at GPL was also controversial. He was freed in 2018 from a $27M larceny charge linked to misappropriation of the funds.

 

 

 

 

 

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