Pres. Ali and Vickram Bharrat should honour promise to release Alison Redford  reports on oil projects – VP Jagdeo says 

May 02, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – If President Irfaan Ali and Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat made commitments to release the reports of Canadian lawyer, Alison Redford on ExxonMobil’s projects then they should do so. This statement was made by Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo during an engagement with members of the media last Friday.Kaieteur News asked the former President to explain why the reports by the Canadian lawyer have not been made public despite the government’s promise to do so. This newspaper had previously reported that Redford authored two reports.

The first review report was done in August 2020 on the Field Development Plan (FDP) for the Payara project. During the David Granger administration, the contract to review the Payara FDP was awarded to Bayphase Consultancy headquartered in the UK but electoral disruptions and the COVID-19 pandemic stymied the completion process. Redford was subsequently hired by the PPP administration to review what was done by Bayphase and complete the review of the Payara FDP. Bayphase was also awarded the contract to review the Yellowtail FDP worth US$10B. On the same day it awarded the licence to ExxonMobil for the project, Government disclosed that Redford was also part of the review process. Importantly, the review of Payara and Yellowtail were completed in 42 and 52 days respectively.
The government came in for harsh criticism from several industry experts who noted that no proper review can be done in such a short space of time while adding, that Redford has no known track record in this highly technical field. While Jagdeo did acknowledge the need for the government officials to honour their statement commitments, he also noted that the reports following a review process is not where the public’s focus should be. He said it is the production licences that represent the final word of the government. Expounding further, the Vice President said, “There are lots of issues in the review report that are subsequently clarified so if they write up a report, often it is based on what the submission is (in the Field Development Plan) and when they make the engagement (with the company) that is when you end up with the final stuff so the report of a review does not mean everything is correct.”
Jagdeo further explained that a review report may point to several issues but when clarification is offered by the company, the consultant realizes that “it is not really a big issue.” He said the review report does not reflect the entire picture of what the government arrived at. He also alluded that perhaps the government’s hesitation to release the documents is due to fear of them being used selectively and disparagingly. Irrespective of this fear, industry experts are still demanding that the reports be made public so that citizens can understand the quality and value of the work conducted by Redford.

Kaieteur News previously reported that a Field Development Plan is one of the most critical documents governments assess before granting companies permission to move ahead with oil projects. Given the importance of this document, numerous industry experts have said the government must ensure proper due diligence is done by way of experienced professionals. It is on this very principle that they have expressed grave concern about Guyana’s use of Alison Merrilla Redford, a Canadian lawyer and former politician.
More than a dozen industry experts who have experience reviewing FDPs said emphatically, no proper review can be done in 42 or 52 days. Specifically, one industry expert said, “For most FPDs, you have over 100 items to check. That is why a proper review takes a year and change, sometimes longer depending on project size. In the first instance, the government must have its own FDP guidelines on minimum requirements they expect from the company. That should be public. This is needed because citizens would better understand the standards the administration is setting for companies to abide by. The North Sea Transition Authority (NTSA) does this. That authority regulates and influences the oil, gas and carbon storage industries of the UK Continental Shelf.”
The NSTA clearly states via its guidelines on its website that all FDPs must provide a clear explanation why the development concept being presented is considered optimum from a technical, environmental and economic perspective. The authority also requires that companies set out the commitments they will follow to ensure enhanced oil recovery and sound development. The expert noted that Guyana is yet to prove if the Redford/Bayphase group achieved this since their findings remain a State secret.
Experts also told Kaieteur News that FDPs must also provide a production strategy that aligns with the country’s interest. Such a strategy includes: Short-term and long-term plans on production acceleration and recoverable reserves, the number of production and injection wells and the cost to the nation, and an explanation of hydrocarbon bearing sands penetrated not included under the current development plan, but which could be profitable if assumption changes such as extent of reservoir or oil price.
FDPs also include detailed information, which the government needs experienced persons to review regarding production technology and well engineering. In this area, government specialists must diligently assess proposed well design concepts including trajectory and location, in flow performance prediction, sand control and sand management, explanation of concept selection and how value for money would be achieved on each component of the project. In light of the foregoing, and in the interest of transparency, the industry experts agreed that the PPP/C Government should disclose a summary of the work performed by Bayphase and the Redford group to date, along with a summary of the type of data used and the methods by which it was assessed.

 

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