Oil production licences still in secrecy, five months later

Mar 04, 2021 News

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.

Kaieteur News – The Irfaan Ali administration still has not published all oil development production licences granted to ExxonMobil, despite Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, committing to do so five months ago, on October 2, 2020.
Notably, it was Jagdeo who encouraged media operatives to read all of the permits, so they could verify his claim that the Payara permits from the current administration are superior to the permits granted by the David Granger administration for Liza Phases One and Two.
“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 had said, during the press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, “and therein, you will see the massive improvements and how we have moved to protect our patrimony.”
Dr. Jagdeo had also said that the improvements are there to ensure that the Payara development would be executed in a more environmentally safe manner, among other critical considerations.
When informed that the media did not receive these documents, the Vice President said that he would ensure they do.
So far, Kaieteur News is in possession of the environmental permits for Liza Phases One and Two, and Payara. This newspaper also has the Payara production licence released by the Ali administration when it announced the approval, last September.
Kaieteur News understands that the Vice President has to give the approval to subordinates to release the remaining documents.
The Government rode into office on one promise, among many, that it would be more transparent than the administration before it.
The Granger government never released the production licences for the Liza Phases One and Two projects, which collectively allow ExxonMobil the right to wipe out over a billion oil-equivalent barrels.
It had released the Stabroek block production sharing licence (PSA), and came under harsh criticism for the industry-low revenue share and other poor terms.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News