Govt. pulls back invitation for consultant to review 7th project

Oct 25, 2024 News

– Jagdeo says cannot review information in piecemeal fashion

Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday announced that government has discontinued an advertisement for a consultant to review Exxon’s seventh project, saying that the information the company presented this far is incomplete.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. (Govt. pulls back invitation for consultant to review 7th project)

He made the comments during his weekly press conference held at the PPC’s headquarters, Freedom House. Jagdeo previously when speaking about the seventh had said that there is an assumption that there would be a seventh project. However, recently the government had advertised for a consultant to review the same project. On Thursday, Jagdeo was asked if he has had a change of heart regarding the project and whether there would be any fiscal improvements if it is approved. In response, he said he had instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources to discontinue the advertisement, “so I said to them discontinue it. So, there will be no consultant hired to review the project until we have the entire submission.”

Jagdeo questioned the logics of hiring a company at this point in time, to review incomplete information, highlighting that Exxon has been making the submissions in parts. “So, the original position stands, when I saw that ad, it was brought to my attention and I called the minister and said discontinue it because until we have a full submission from Exxon, we are not gonna start the review process and I expect them to make a full submission sometime next year,” the VP said.

No guarantee Exxon will have 7^th project

On July 26, 2024, this publication reported that Jagdeo in response to a question posed by this publication had said that “So first of all, there is an assumption that there will be a seventh project. So, we will get the application soon and at that time, the government will determine through two permits, one the licence and then the environmental permit, how it will deal with all of these issues.” Jagdeo added: “Exxon still has to demonstrate that they will submit all the documents needed for us to assess whether the requirements are met. Then in August, the VP was asked to again to shed some light on, “What improvements can Guyanese expect from the 7^th oil project should it be approved?” Trying to decide which word to begin with Jagdeo said then: “When and if…if and or when and if we approve the project then you will be told about what the benefits will be. We have not looked at anything…there is currently no application in for the seventh project as yet, so when the application comes in that’s when we will start considering this matter.”

Exxon hoping for approval by next year

According to Vice President and Business Services Manager at ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL), Phillip Rietema with six deep-water projects in the Stabroek Block already receiving regulatory approval from the Government of Guyana (GoG), by mid-2025 ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) is hoping to get approval for its seventh project, Hammerhead.

A few months ago, EMGL, the operator of Guyana’s resource-rich Stabroek Block made its application to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking approval for a seventh project, Hammerhead. During his address at the International Business Conference (IBC) on Wednesday at the Guyana Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Reitema said, “We have six sanctioned projects, just (to) put it in context. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world where we’ve been able to go so quickly from discovery to production to now six sanctioned projects. Since making its first discovery in 2015, he underscored that Exxon has transitioned from exploration to production in record time.

(Govt. pulls back invitation for consultant to review 7th project)

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7th oil project, Consultant, Exxon, invitation, Jagdeo

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