A licence to do what it pleases

May 06, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The Petroleum Commission is far more important than the Board of the Natural Resources Fund. Yet, the government has rushed legislation through for the former but has not done so for the latter.
The APNU+AFC Petroleum Commission Bill had proposed the establishment of a commission which would hold responsibility for monitoring and enforcing Guyana’s petroleum laws, policies and, interestingly, agreements. It would also be responsible for ensuring health safety and environmental standards. .
According to the then Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, the commission “ will be tasked inter alia, with researching efficient, safe, effective and environmentally responsible exploration, development and production of petroleum in Guyana, including the optimum methods of exploring for, extracting and utilising petroleum and petroleum products” and also serve as an advisory body to the Minister.
Upon assuming office, the PPP/C government promised to overhaul the country’s petroleum laws. In his inauguration address, President Ali said that he would establish a Petroleum Commission to insulate the oil and gas sector from political influence.
One month later, one of his Ministers said that the previous Petroleum Commission Bill gave Ministers too much power. He argued that Ministers should not have that much power and that his government would depoliticise the sector.
Twenty months later, this all important piece of legislation is yet to be passed. And it is not likely to be passed until after September by which time the government would have decided, on its own, whether to place the country’s remaining oil blocks under auction or whether to establish a National Oil Company with a strategic partner.
This newspaper had even quoted Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo as saying, “We want a Petroleum Commission made up of technical people with an independent board to manage the oil and gas sector.”
One year ago, this newspaper reported that the government had promised to have a Petroleum Commission in place in a matter of weeks. It was even reported that the legislation was being actively under consideration by the legal sector of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
The PPP/C government has passed an amendment to the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act. But it has not submitted the promised Petroleum Commission Bill.
The absence of a Petroleum Commission gives the government freedom to do what it pleases in the oil and gas sector. Without a Petroleum Commission, the government can issue licences and permits and hand out or sell off the country’s oil resources.
And this is the danger which the country faces. The government has all the authority right now and there is no oversight to stem its actions. Tomorrow, the people of Guyana can wake up to the news that Guyana’s petroleum resources have been handed to friends and cronies of the government or to some strategic partner. And there is nothing, at least in law, which can prevent the government from so doing.
This is why the Opposition’s obsession with having a role in the Natural Resources Fund Board was misplaced. The more important body for which the Opposition should be fighting for is the Petroleum Commission because the existence of this body would foil any plans to share out oil resources willy-nilly.
The Opposition however finds itself in a bind. The APNU+AFC had proposed a Commission, which was far from independent of the subject Minister for the oil and gas sector. The Board of the Commission contemplated by the APNU+AFC would have been virtually hand-picked by the Minister thus making it far from independent.
This is all the more reason why Guyanese must become involved in ensuring an independent Petroleum Commission is in place. Unless this happens, the PPP/C virtually has a licence to do as it pleases with the country’s oil resources.
Despite promising a non-political Petroleum Commission, the government is quite comfortable with the existing status quo ante. The absence of a Commission gives the government a free-hand in determining what happens in the sector, and there is an eagerness to decide on the fate of oil blocks before September, and as it seems, in the absence of an independent Petroleum Commission.
This is matter of serious concern for the people of Guyana. The PPP/C has a chequered record when it comes to the assigning of oil blocks. This newspaper has exposed the manner in which certain oil blocks were handed out.
Given this record, the APNU+AFC will find it difficult to criticise the PPP/C’s prevarication in establishing a Petroleum Commission. As such, the Guyanese people cannot look to the Opposition for robust representation on this issue.
The Guyanese people must however demand that before any action is taken in respect to the allocation of future oil blocks – whether through auction or the establishment of a National Oil Company – that an independent Petroleum Commission is in place.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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