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Government blocked oil companies from consulting with Opposition – Patterson claims
Shadow Oil and Gas Ministe
Kaieteur News – When the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition held office, it allowed the then Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to engage in regular briefs with ExxonMobil and other oil companies operating on Guyana’s shores.
However, that same courtesy is not being extended to the Coalition now in Opposition, according to the Shadow Oil and Gas Minister, David Patterson.
Patterson told the National Assembly on Friday during the 2021 Budget Debates at the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC) that Government had instructed that they be shut out. The former Public Infrastructure Minister said in his presentation that, “The Opposition has yet to be briefed by any of the operators because the Government has requested that no information be shared with us.”
Patterson told the House that the Coalition administration via the Former Minister of Natural Resources made it a requirement that Exxon fully brief the then PPP/C Opposition on every new discovery and development.
Those briefings, he noted, were conducted bilaterally between ExxonMobil and the Opposition, with no involvement from the government. That implementation was made as the Coalition was of the view that all political parties should be fully briefed on the emerging oil industry.
And the fact that the Opposition no longer has access to this, Patterson outlined does not bode well for inclusivity.
“This is in stark contrast to our handling of this sector and does not reflect the claims of inclusiveness that the Government has been making speeches about,” he continued.
The former Minister outlined as well that it is this type of unified front in the management of Guyana’s resources that allows oil companies to exploit the country’s differences, as have happened for years. He in turn offered the Coalition’s support to government in presenting a unified position to jointly address the inadequacies in present oil contracts and any other pertinent documents.
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