Jagdeo must be removed from managing oil sector - APNU

Jagdeo must be removed from managing oil sector – APNU

Sep 17, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

Kaieteur News – The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is calling for Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo to be stripped of his responsibilities of managing Guyana’s burgeoning oil and gas industry.

In a statement to the media on Saturday, the joint Opposition parties explained that Guyanese across the country are alarmed by the recent development in the country’s first oil audit.

It was reported that the audit conducted by British Consultant, IHS-Markit, of some US$1.6 billion in expenses incurred by the oil company, between the period 1999 and 2017, concluded that the state could contest US$214 million of those costs.

Subsequently, VP Jagdeo said that the costs were reduced to US$3 billion after the company managed to submit documents that further brought down the disputed amount from US$11 billion.

At his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo explained that the US$3 billion breakdown by the Ministry of Natural Resources Petroleum Unit should not have occurred. He said this was done without the knowledge of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), which was tasked with overseeing the process.

The Vice President said, “This matter should have been closed earlier. I thought GRA was dealing with this matter totally because that is what we said… that GRA should deal with the issue of the audit. They should have a final say at the technical level. I was reluctant to even speak about it because I said it is being handled technically.”

The official said he later discovered that GRA wrote the ministry and said twice that given the passage of time, the audit should close with US$214M as the final amount of disputed costs but this he said did not occur.

Jagdeo said the Natural Resources Ministry then engaged Exxon in a discussion after GRA recommended closing the audit.

Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat in a later statement said that staff within his Petroleum Unit engaged in an “unauthorized” reduction of the questionable expenses. He added that members of the unit have since been instructed to cease such unethical engagements and to follow the lead of the GRA on such audits.

In light of the foregoing, the APNU said, “The explanations offered by Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat and VP Bharrat Jagdeo at best expose their ineptitude and dereliction and, at worse, point to probable criminality.”

The party reasoned that any responsible leader would have, upon learning of the slashing of the expenses, sought clarity on the matter. Contrarily, the Opposition argued, “He [Jagdeo] informed the nation that he accepted the report at face value and had no concerns and sought no explanations. This is negligence and malfeasance of the highest order.”

The party was keen to note that such negligence can lead to the loss of billions of dollars of public funds. In calling for the removal of the Vice President from managing the petroleum sector, the APNU said, “The nation has travelled this road before with VP Jagdeo. The Skeldon Sugar factory modernization project, the Fibre Optics Cable project, and Su-gate to name a few have starkly exposed his incapabilities. He is out of his depth. The nation distrusts him…enough is enough!”