Vickram Bharrat boasts: ‘Guyana oil sector one of the better managed in the world’

Aug 16, 2024 News

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– despite lowest royalty rate, zero taxes on oil companies, no ring-fencing and lack of independent oversight

Kaieteur News – Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, has defended the management of Guyana’s oil sector, asserting that it is one of the best-managed sectors globally.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Minister Bharrat highlighted, “Now with the oil and gas sector, I want to say from the inception and some people may not agree but when you look at it from a neutral point of view, we would see that Guyana’s oil and gas sector is one of the better managed oil and gas sector in the world.”

The minister stressed that transparency and accountability are key pillars of Guyana’s oil sector management. He also pointed out that it is rare for any oil-producing country to have its chief policymaker, in Guyana’s case Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, to engage with the public and media through his weekly press conferences. “We did a quick check to see how many oil producing countries in the world will have the Vice President of the country who is the lead policy maker on the oil and gas sector speak on the sector every single week in a year…” Bharrat said. He continued, “But every single week, we have the chief policy maker in our country Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, speak on the sector and give the opportunity to the media and anyone else to ask questions on the sector.”

Minister Bharrat underscored the government’s commitment to transparency, noting that information is regularly shared through various channels, including websites and press releases.

“There is nothing to hide in the management of the oil and gas sector,” he affirmed. He added that few other countries have leaders who engage with the media about the oil and gas sector as frequently as in Guyana, where “[the] few countries that do it and the countries that actually do it, they do it either to ten times a year.”

To further prove his point, the minister referenced the National Resource Fund (NRF) as a testament to the PPP-administration commitment to transparency and accountability in the sector.  “If you look at the NRF for example, anyone from any part of the world can check to see how much money is in the NRF,” he said. He explained that there are only two ways in which money can be withdrawn from the NRF, through the National Budget, which must be debated and approved by the National Assembly, or in the case of a national disaster, which also requires parliamentary approval.

Addressing criticisms about the management of the sector and its revenues, Bharrat countered, “They are strong measures placed in the NRF Act to ensure that there is proper accountability and transparency and for you to know how much money flows into that fund.”

Bharrat attributed the success of Guyana’s oil sector to lessons learned from other countries. He continued, “It is because we have simply learned from the mistakes made by other oil producing countries; it is because we had that advantage of looking at other models around the world because we are a late starter.” “We had the advantage of looking at models that failed and models that were successful and we have drawn from different models and created one that is best suited for Guyana,” the minister stated. Moreover, the minister proudly shared that Guyana is now being recognized as a model for other countries. “So much so that Guyana today one of the newest oil producing country in the world, is being used as a model country,” he said.  Minister Bharrat mentioned a recent visit from Namibia’s Minister of Energy, Tom Alweendo who, along with a delegation, came to study Guyana’s model in hopes of adopting it for their emerging oil sector.

Despite Bharrat’s boasts, Guyana’s oil contract with ExxonMbil and the management of the sector have been widely criticized globally. Earlier this year International Financial Expert, Tom Sanzillo during an interview with CNBC, the leading business and financial news network in the world, said the ExxonMobil deal is a one-sided one. “Because Exxon pays no taxes, Exxon didn’t put up the insurance they are responsible for putting up, and Exxon has a special arrangement with a maximized profit where they get their profits first and Guyana gets theirs later.” While the Guyana Government has acknowledged that the deal with Exxon is grossly in favour of the company, it has refused to demand a renegotiation. The government’s position is that asking for a revision of the lopsided terms will hamper investor confidence and sully the nation’s reputation on the global stage. The administration insists that Guyana must make do with what it has.

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• Independent, Minister of Natural Resources, Transparency, Vickram Bharrat, world

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