Jagdeo commits to releasing oil permits APNU+AFC kept hidden

Oct 05, 2020 News

Kaieteur News – Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Friday said that the government would release the oil permits the former David Granger administration granted to ExxonMobil but did not release. These are the permits for the first two field developments, Liza Phases One and Two, as well as the corresponding environmental permits.

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

Jagdeo made this commitment during a press conference, and urged the media to critically analyse the differences between the Payara permit and the Liza permits. When informed that the media did not receive these documents, the Vice President said that he will ensure they do. He is of the view that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has significantly improved upon the mistakes of the Granger administration.
“So look at the petroleum licence for Liza that Trotman signed, and do a comparison with the petroleum licence for Payara that we signed.” He said. “And therein, you will see the massive improvements and how we have moved to protect our patrimony.”
He said that these improvements are there to ensure that the third development, Payara would be executed in a more environmentally safe manner, among other critical considerations.
“Not necessarily from the fiscal perspective,” Jagdeo stated, “because that is subject of another agreement, but definitely in terms of making sure that we can adequately manage this area through information flow, to see that we’re getting our fair share of the deal… in terms of production; secondly, to see that the development offshore is done in an orderly fashion; thirdly, that we do it in an environmentally safe manner; fourthly that liabilities are not accrued to the state.”
The Liza Phases One and Two projects were approved by the Granger administration. Not only did the former Government keep the permits hidden, it also refused to conduct sufficient due diligence checks to ascertain the integrity of Exxon’s developments.
This is evidenced by the fact that the Granger administration approved the Liza Phase One permit on the same day that it received the 1,500-page environmental impact assessment from ExxonMobil.
The Payara permit was approved by the Ali administration at the end of September, after contentious review processes, which spanned two governments. Kaieteur News is currently reviewing this permit.

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