Jagdeo hasn’t brought anything to fruition, now an oil refinery deal looks questionable

Sep 07, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

In a letter In the Kaieteur news dated August 14^th and captioned ‘Why the Dominican Republic (DR) and not Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)’, a Mr. Jamil Changlee questioned why snub T&T which has the capabilities. Excellent question but ask the question, why snub Guyanese companies. If I can recall a number of proposals were sent in and I believe Turhane Doerga and others were developing refinery projects.

President Ali tells business community “the government will continue to set the stage for investments ….  But the onus is also on businesses to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities that are provided”. Well, it seems that the VP and the President are only interested in foreign investors to the exclusion of the local Private sector.

We were told that there were a number of proposals for the construction of oil refineries in Guyana. These proposals were there for a very long time with no response from the government. Then, suddenly, there was an announcement by the VP that the government was seeking comprehensive proposals for a refinery with the capacity of 30,000 barrels a day (BPD).  Construction was to start in January 2023. The VP stated that he did not want a refinery that was more than 30,000 BPD. He said the Government would sell only 30,000 barrels a day of its profit oil and the rest would be exported. He wanted only one refinery.

January has come and gone but no feedback from the Oil and Gas Czar and no refinery. Now, we are hearing that the government has signed an MOU with the Dominican Republic Government for a refinery with a capacity for at least 50,000 BPD, so it can be more and a lot greater than 30,000 although the VP Bharat Jagdeo stated pellucidly he did not want one more than 30,000 BPD. He said earlier that the 30,000 BPD was to satisfy the needs of Guyana and I rebuked him asking what about the Caribbean. Now belatedly we are hearing about energy security of Guyana and the Caribbean but even then, 50,000 BPD would be insufficient, I suppose the gov would also have to sell more of Guyana oil to the local Company, Something Bharat said he did not want.

I am asking if these MOUs signed by this government have any value as I recall asking Moses Nagamootoo, who is an attorney-at-law, when he was Prime Minister, whether an MOU has value and he said it was not worth the paper it is written on. Maybe some legal person can confirm if what Moses said is correct. Could our brilliant Attorney General shed some light on this. If indeed what Moses said is true, then all these MOUs are just PR stunts and so having a refinery would remain a pipe dream. Also, confusion becomes greater with this announcement. Is the government contemplating two refineries? However, the VP clarified that we have the capacity for only one refinery. Well, this needs further clarification. The VP needs to explain the limitation. He needs to explain what factors he took into consideration when he stated that we have the capacity for only one. I doubt he can, or he would. This was pulled out of the hat just like the 30,000 BPD.

Now we are hearing of another one, over 50,000 BPD with the DR government giving them 51%. I am sure it would not be the government of the DR so it would be some private sector companies. There is a big question mark here. We are not told where the 49% is coming from. They said not the gov. So, I guess, like the Berbice Bridge and the Marriot it would be “SUlected” investors. I am glad Bharat now realizes, after emphatically first saying he wants 30,000 bpd and would export the rest and says, “we cannot continue to sell our oil and import crude products so we have to address our minds to a refinery and have guaranteed feedstock for it, so all of that is catered for in this very comprehensive Bill”, which is waiting for the President’s signature.

Now the final confusion of a VP who seems not to know what he is doing. The recently passed bill according to the Minister of Natural Resources ensures that the oil producers sell oil locally if profit oil is inadequate. I assume this anticipates that we would have refining capacity greater than profit oil which would according to Exxon would be over 160 BPD by 2027. I want to believe by then cost oil would be less than 75% so we expect more profit oil. Unless this is so there is no need for Exxon to release oil to Guyana.

I want to remind readers that this VP Bharat Jagdeo acted to block a 300,000 million GYD modern cargo facility at CJIA. In fact, I got into trouble with him, when with my involvement, the project was nearing fruition. He told me to stop the project and he transferred me out of OP.It did not matter to him that this was so beneficial to farmers and would have been transformational as this facility would have had available aircraft and would work in conjunction with a modern facility at JFK with the capacity to fly produce to other countries.

Could someone inform me of any major project that Bharat brought to fruition?

We have the white elephant at Skeldon, a sugar factory. It is reported that he gave this contract to a Chinese firm instead of an Indian one which knows about sugar. Then there is the Amelia Hydro. Then there is the internet cable from Brazil where billions of dollars that that came from the European Union to help rehabilitate sugar were literally thrown away.

It seems now that his actions would make a refinery for Guyana a pipe dream as the VP does not want to deal with the interest the Guyanese private sector of Guyana has re an oil refinery. I sincerely hope that the President of this country instead of waiting for proposals from other countries make a conscious effort to meet with local persons who are interested in setting up a refinery. If he does not do that his obtaining 51% in 2025 would become elusive. I know many Berbicians would be very upset with him. The President would be held accountable if an oil refinery does not materialize. Especially Berbicians would not forgive him.

I recall when Government was privatizing the National Cooperative Bank, a proposal was put forward to sell the bank in blocks of shares so the local private sector could buy in as it was difficult for one of them to purchase the entire bank. Instead, he sold it all to a foreign company, to Republic Bank, a T&T company. Re Marriot, correct me if I am wrong but usually bids state that the government does not have to accept the highest bid. So why not sell it to a Guyanese investor who bid a couple of million less. It was stupid to sell in the first place. It would be interesting to find out whose money is really buying the Marriot.

It would be wise for His excellency to jettison his VP. There is an opinion that Bharat caused the PPP to lose power in 2015. Many could not stand the deep-rooted corruption. Even Presidential candidate Donald Ramotar said the corruption was deep rooted and he vowed to pull it out.

This Government has a slim majority of one. 2025 would not be a piece of cake especially since the oil money is not trickling down. Instead, it is spent on overpriced necessary infrastructure and overpriced infrastructure works that are not the priority of the Guyanese people. I have no idea if he consulted the Berbicians if they want a stadium. I as a Berbician and others are of the view that the said monies should be spent to upgrade all community centers where our best cricketers were produced.

We the Guyanese knows what takes place when we have these big contracts. We will never forget Su. Guyanese, especially Berbicians, would not forgive this government for placing stumbling blocks to the Guyanese private sector re: construction of an oil refinery. The ball is in Bharat’s and the President’s court. The farmers should remember that the VP suffered them a lot by blocking the Modern Cargo Facility at CJIA.

The oil refinery project, in addition to providing much needed fertilizer, cheap energy and asphalt etc. would create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly including members of our diaspora.

Rajendra Bisessar

BSc in Sociology, LLB

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• BSc, Guyana, LLB, Rajendra Bisessar, Sociology

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