Pres. Ali boasts of $50M monthly returns from supply boats while Guyana pays $300M daily in rental fees

Apr 27, 2022 News

One of the supply vessels Guyana is currently paying for.

Kaieteur News – Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, while attending a ceremony on the West Bank of Demerara on Saturday last boasted that every month, Region Three rakes in $50 million when the supply boats come to shore to purchase fruits, vegetables and water from the markets and small shops.
This, while Guyana is saddled with a $300 million daily rental bill for the 30 supply boats that service the oil and gas sector.
President Ali, while addressing critics of the sector said, “I was speaking to some of the suppliers for the supply boats that goes out to the rig and when you check what they buy in Region Three, in the markets, in food supplies, water, they spend more than $50 million here every month in the markets, more than $50 million every month, buying produce and supplies for those boats.”
He went on to say that such stories are untold while insisting that farmers, small retail stores and supermarkets owners all enjoy the benefits from those sales.
The President did not, however, tell his audience that Guyana’s earnings from oil production are being deducted to pay for the supply boats. Presently, Guyana pays about $11 million in rental fees for each of these vessels. When a simple calculation is done against the 30 boats that service the sector, it amounts to over $300 million.
Prominent businessman, Mr. Glenn Lall, the publisher of Kaieteur News, during his Monday evening radio programme addressed the issue of what Guyana has been losing, compared to the miniscule returns the President bragged about.
Lall is of the firm view that the Head of State should have been addressing Guyana taking ownership of those boats and renting them to the oil sector, rather than settle for a mere $50 million monthly.
In fact, the businessman explained that if Guyana moves to acquire its own supply vessels, the country would benefit more beyond the ‘grocery money’.
He reasoned, “Billions going in oil people’s pockets when the month come from your oil money and he (President Ali) proud to announce the farmers getting their bora, bhagi sell…Trinidad and Suriname paying just over $1million per boat and we are paying $11 million a day. Ten million Guyana losing per day, 30 boats by 10 is $300 million Guyana losing a month and our President proudly saying not once but twice how the people spending $50 million a month.”
The daily losses could amount to almost $9 billion a month, the newspaper publisher added.
Lall was keen to highlight during his radio programme, also streamed live on Facebook, that Guyana would still benefit from those sales if the government or private persons were to be the owners of the supply vessels, which means the country could benefit twice should it be steered in the right direction.
Guyana in 2016 inked a Production Sharing Agreement with Esso Exploration Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) and their partners Hess Guyana Corporation and China National Offshore Oil Company. Under that agreement, the operator EEPGL—commonly referred to as ExxonMobil Guyana—is allowed to recover up 100 percent of its exploration and other costs by deducting proceeds up to 75 percent of the production from the Stabroek Block.
This publication reported that among the support services being utilised by ExxonMobil relate to the rental of its supply boats. These vessels are typically used to transport supplies to the oil platform and return other cargoes to shore. They also store equipment and provide other support services required.

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