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Petroleum Commission still on Govt.’s agenda – VP Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo assured on Thursday that the government will honour its promise to have a Petroleum Commission when the time is right. Such a regulatory body is established by a government to oversee and manage the exploration, development, and production of petroleum resources within its jurisdiction. It ensures compliance with laws and regulations, manages licences and permits, and often plays a role in promoting sustainable and efficient utilization of petroleum resources.
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
During his first press conference for the year at the Office of the President, Dr. Jagdeo assured that this has not been removed from the government’s agenda. In response to a question from Kaieteur News on what citizens can expect for the oil sector in 2024 he said, “The petroleum commission, we said we are building capacity in the Ministry (of Natural Resources).” In this period where the government is focused on creating a fortified framework for managing accountability in the sector, he said swifter action would be needed for a number of critical matters. He alluded that this is not the type of approach one would normally see from a technically outfitted body like a Petroleum Commission.
Jagdeo said it is as a result of the government’s insistence on a rapid build out of the management framework for the sector that a new Natural Resource Fund Law was passed, a new Petroleum Activities Law was enacted and a revamped model production sharing agreement for deep water and shallow water concessions came to being.
“All of those things had to be driven politically to achieve them. A technical body would not have the same sense of urgency to do that,” he said adding, “…Anybody who is assessing this sector from 2020 to now would have seen the massive changes in the tools available to the country to manage this sector…Only the jaundiced would not see that…”
Naysayers aside, Jagdeo assured that the government’s ultimate goal is a Petroleum Commission to complement other advancements in the sector. He was keen to remind however that a commission is not “a must” for oil-producing countries.
Jagdeo said, “If you look at other jurisdictions that have done this in some countries, not every country has that model…countries have various models, where the countries that have done that have evolved into it but when they have a mature environment and a set of tools for managing the sector and that is something we have to explain more to people.”
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