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Guyanese have golden opportunity to demand disclosure of reports on oil companies’ spending
With overhaul of oil law forthcoming…
Kaieteur News – The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) government has decided that it will move to Parliament for an overhaul of the 1986 Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act to cater for the current oil blocks auction and model contracts.
With the tabling of draft legislation in the National Assembly, Government and Opposition will debate new laws for what is arguably the most important sector in Guyana’s current development trajectory.
But even before a draft is laid in Parliament, the public has the opportunity now to demand that the amendment to the oil laws includes provisions to improve transparency and accountability in the management of Guyana’s resources.
The government was keen to note that when it passed the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021, it included provisions that allow the country to now benefit from statutory disclosures of revenues paid into the oil fund. The need for this became clear when it was found that the previous administration hid a US$18 million signing bonus from the public long after receiving it from ExxonMobil. Similarly, public interest advocates and the media have wrestled with the government for years over what should be transparent.
Throughout this conversation, Ministers of government have made commitments to make certain documents public but have failed to deliver. But with an amendment to the Petroleum Act, the administration can put statutory requirements in place for the publication of documents including but not limited to petroleum agreements, exploration and production licenses, production data, assignments of oil lifts and basic updates on the recovery of oil companies’ costs. While much of this information is supposed to be public, this is done at the whims and fancies of public officials. Where oil production data is concerned, vital aspects have sometimes been outstanding from the public record for months at a time.
As has been done with the Natural Resource Fund Act, the government can include penalties to prevent public officials, such as the Minister of Natural Resources, from keeping legally required information from the public, whether through the Official Gazette or the Ministry’s Petroleum Management Programme website.
Where oil companies and their major contractors are concerned, the new Petroleum Act can require them to publish audited financial statements on an annual basis, with respect to the operations of their local subsidiaries.
By moving to institute new transparency provisions in law, the government would do well to make up for the recent tarnishing of Guyana’s reputation when the country was suspended by the Norway-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
President Dr. Irfaan Ali had reaffirmed, when news of the suspension went public, that the government is committed to transparency and accountability. While Guyana’s suspension was due to a missed deadline, and not Guyana’s EITI score, it remains an indictment of Guyana that it fell out of good graces with such a critical transparency watchdog for the extractives sectors, so early in its oil boom.
In making these new demands during the reform process, Guyanese no doubt have a critical opportunity to improve its EITI standing as well as the overall governance of the oil sector.
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