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Minister Bharrat to have control over conditions to grant oil licences; Hefty penalties await violators
Petroleum Activities Law Pt. 2…
By Kiana Wilburg
Kaieteur News – According to Guyana’s Petroleum Activities Law which replaced the 1986 framework, the Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, is entrusted with several powers. One of the critical responsibilities bestowed on him pertains to the granting of oil licences based on conditions he deems fit.
According to the law, a company may make an application to the minister in a form, subject to the payment of the fee prescribed by the Minister by subsidiary legislation for the grant of a geological or geophysical survey permit, a petroleum exploration licence, a petroleum production licence, a pipeline operations licence and a geological storage licence for carbon dioxide.
Notably, the law states that “a licence or permit granted to a company by the Minister pursuant to subsection (1) shall be granted subject to such conditions as the Minister deems fit.”
The law further notes that a person who carries out petroleum operations without a licence or permit issued under this Act commits an offence and shall, on summary conviction, be held liable. In the case of an individual, that person would be fined $15 million and in the case of a continuing offence, $5 million a day for every day the offence continues together with imprisonment for three years. In the case of a company, it will be subjected to a fine of $30 million and in the case of a continuing offence, $10 million a day for every day the offence is carried.
Additionally, the law states that if the offence has been committed by a company with the consent or negligence of a director, company secretary or any other officer of the company, or any person who was purporting to act in such capacity, that person, as well as the company, shall be guilty of the offence and that person shall be liable to the same penalty as an individual under the Act.
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