Latest update September 7th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 24, 2021 News
…says revenue already decided by contract terms; ‘we have to work with them’
Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.
Kaieteur News – Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, on Tuesday skirted the question of whether Guyana was getting a fair share of its revenue from its oil deals, to instead say that what Guyana gets is already dictated by the contract and that, “We have to work with them and to make the best of them.”
He was at the time appearing on a Live Globespan24X7 broadcast, moderated by Dr. Asquith Rose and Charles Sugrim, and was asked directly to respond to the question of whether Guyana was getting a fair deal of its share of revenues from the Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) entered into by oil players and producing offshore Guyana.
Dr. Singh was reminded of President, Irfaan Ali’s position, that Guyana’s resources would be useless to the nation’s development if not exploited.
“Guyana is blessed with an abundance of natural resources that provides opportunities for every Guyanese. There is no reason for our country to be poor, or for our people to want. We, together, have to take hold of these natural resources that have been gifted to us and turn them into national treasure,” President Ali told the recently concluded Guyana Basin Summit.
He had also at the time noted that with the growing oil discoveries, Guyana is poised for greatness and added, “We welcome investment in the Guyana Basin as well as the multiple opportunities it will spawn within our economy.”
While not directly answering the moderator on whether Guyana is in fact receiving its fair share of revenues on the oil contracts specifically, Dr. Singh noted instead, that “I would say to you that we are getting the revenue that is dictated by the contracts that we have at the current point in time.”
Those contracts he reiterated “Were granted at a particular point in time and those are the terms we are getting and I think we have to work with them.”
Defending the revenues earned by Guyana—as is structured under the PSAs—the Senior Minister sought to underscore that Guyana or any country should get their fair share of resources that are extracted from their country but “One has to take into consideration the reality that applied at the time the contract was concluded and the implication of the timing with which the contract.”
“These are the contracts we have at the current point in time and we have to work with them and make the best of them,” Dr. Singh said.
He was adamant “It is very easy to sit and debate on what terms should have been obtained or what terms should not have been obtained or what should have happened at renegotiation,” referencing a second round of negotiations in 2016, concluded by the coalition, A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration.
According to Dr. Singh, “There is a lot that has been said, there’s a lot that can be said, (but) I think we have to, as any other government, we have to carefully consider all of the realties that surround the environment in which we are operating before we make any decision in that regard.”
Pressed on the matter by the moderator on whether the country was getting its fair share of revenues under the existing agreements, the substantive minister reiterated, “I would say to you that we are getting the revenue that is dictated by the contracts that we have at the current point in time.”
On the sore matter of insurance by the oil companies in the case of a spill or other environmental disaster requiring insurance coverage, Dr. Singh, while conceding ignorance on the complete details, said “to the best of my knowledge I believe that there is…as far as I am aware we have the necessary protection.”
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Mineral and oil rich country borrowing to feed, clothe and house its citizens.
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