Open Letter to the Government of Norway

Feb 04, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana entered into a forest pact with the Government of Norway in 2009. Under that arrangement, the Government of Norway agreed to pay Guyana the sum of US$250M over a five-year period as part of a deal which involves keeping deforestation levels low and improving the management of the forest sector.
This open letter to you, the Government of Norway, is to urge you not to consider the renewal of this agreement unless you want to be seen as a government which is openly supporting a country which is allowing the flaring of natural gas and which is about to construct a gas-to- shore project to convert natural gas to energy. It is also to encourage you to now limit any future agreement with Guyana to the forest sector but to extend the agreement to cover the oil and gas industry, which has the potential to offset any gains resulting from low or reduced levels of deforestation.
Flaring has become endemic in Guyana’s oil and gas sector. Since oil production began, it is believed that more than 10 billion cubic feet of gas has been flared thus far locally. And flaring has not been outlawed in Guyana even though the World Bank has called for zero flaring by 2030, according to reports.
Your country, Norway has little or no flaring. And flaring is illegal. Yet, the Government of Guyana, which wants to be seen as a champion of the environment has not yet ordered the closure of oil operations following forced flaring recently. Neither has it imposed punitive taxes to deter flaring.
Last July, Norway had indicated that it was willing to renew the forest pact with Guyana. Norway should carefully consider doing this in light of Guyana now becoming a major oil-producing state, and with the flaring, which is taking place, makes Guyana a major emitter of polluting gases.
The Government of Guyana is also expected to express a willingness to renew the forest pact. However, it is important that Norway considers Guyana’s overall environmental profile before entering into any agreement to renew the forest pact. As was reported in yesterday’s newspaper, the problems, which have developed with Exxon’s gas compressor have implications which can put Guyana’s environment, its oceans and coastlines at risk.
It makes no sense for Norway to be rewarding the Government of Guyana for keeping deforestation rates low and for better management of the forestry sector when the country faces graver risks including not having adequate insurance in the event of an oil spill, massive flaring and the dumping of wastes into the sea.
As was also pointed out in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper, Guyana will be required to bear the brunt of the costs associated with any oil spill since there is no comprehensive insurance against oil spills for any of Exxon’s current projects in the Stabroek Block. Such spills could end up becoming a regional disaster.
It is therefore important that Norway be very guarded to entering into any talks with the Government of Guyana concerning the renewal of the forest pact. Not only has the management of existing agreement been unsatisfactory to Guyana but it has now become irrelevant given that the country is now an oil producing nation and is likely to earn this year far more in oil revenues than the aggregated five-year sum which was earned under the existing forest pact with Norway.
We also call to your attention, the provisions of the Liza 1 environmental permit. Analysts have pointed out that the wording of key provisions of that permit are too ambiguous to allow for strict enforcement and as such, the oil companies can continue to flare and has received a mere slap on the wrist rather than serious environmental penalties.
Given the present problems, it is advisable that Norway undertakes a detailed assessment of the impact of oil production on the environment and the pollution, which is taking place. This should be a prerequisite for any discussion with Guyana on the renewal or renegotiation of the forest pact.
Norway has considerable experience in oil production. It should widen any partnership with Guyana to include compliance with environmental standards in the oil industry. It should also make any agreement conditional with there being adequate insurance protection in place in the event of an oil spill.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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Open Letter to the Government of Norway

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