Petroleum Commission should be installed immediately

Nov 26, 2024 News

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—Guyana’s oil not Jagdeo or PPP property-WPA says

Kaieteur News- The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) has expressed its dissatisfaction in the way the oil and gas sector is being managed in Guyana, saying it is not the property of Vice President nor the People’s Progressive Party.

Co-leader of the party Dr. David Hinds told reporters on Monday at the party’s weekly press conference that the apparent management of the sector by one person and one party is unacceptable. “Management of the sector is legally largely in the hands of the Natural Resources Minister [Vickram Bharrat] but clearly the Vice President is the czar. Whether in the hands of the minister or the Vice President, this governance model is inappropriate. The country’s oil and gas are not the property of Vice President Jagdeo or the PPP. The authoritarian approach is fraught with danger. It feeds corruption and incompetence which are already taking their toll on the sector,” Dr. Hinds stressed.

He highlighted that in spite of examples of the negative consequences of the kind of approach to the governance of oil and gas sectors worldwide and warning by both regional and local experts the government appears to be hell bent on taking Guyana down a dangerous path. Dr. Hinds reasoned that completely shutting out the political opposition from decision making is unpatriotic and undemocratic as the opposition constitutionally is a part of government and therefore should have some sort of input as the sector is a very important area of the political economy.

The co-leader of the party is of the view that, while the executive arm of the government is responsible for the day-to-day management when it comes to policy formation that should not be left solely up to them. “WPA therefore calls for a bipartisan approach to the management of and governance of the oil and gas sector. This should begin with the immediate setting up of the proposed national Petroleum Commission. Such a commission is a vital necessity in an environment of hyper partisanship.”

Dr. Hinds lamented that, “The oil and gas sector is crying out for independent non- partisan oversight and profession expert policy advice. We must not go to another election without this commission being in place. There must be guarantees of continuity when the elections are over.”

There have been calls by civil society, the opposition and a number of international oil experts to have a Petroleum Commission put in place to have proper transparent management of the oil and gas sector. Despite all of this advice, the Government of Guyana has refused to have this crucial aspect of the sector in place.

On August 15^th this year, this publication reported that, the Guyana Government, among other things, that the establishment of a Petroleum Commission here now will slow down the oil and gas sector. This was the view of Minister Bharrat during his half-year press conference, hosted at the Guyana Forestry Commission office, Kingston Georgetown. Bharrat told reporters during the media briefing that while it sounds nice to say “put the petroleum commission in place” the advantages and disadvantages must be considered.

He was responding to a question from Kaieteur News on the subject when he explained, “The Petroleum Commission will basically be doing what we are doing at the Petroleum Unit at the Ministry of Natural Resources. I don’t think we will be doing anything different from what we are doing now.” In fact, the minister believes that the commission may even slow down the rapid developments taking place in the industry. “A commission like that might be slower in decision-making than the policymakers making decision with regards to how we advance this sector taking into consideration that we have a limited timeframe and a closing window so we have to look at the advantages and disadvantages of everything,” he noted.

 

Bharrat however went on to question the role of the Petroleum Commission, highlighting the “efficient” functions carried out by the Ministry’s Petroleum Unit over the last few years.  “Haven’t we managed the sector well over the last few years, building out the framework, putting the legislative framework in place too, having a new Petroleum Activities Act, a Local Content Legislation, having a new PSA in place, having improvements in production licences and environmental permits and putting all of the monitoring capabilities in place, I don’t see a commission doing anything different from what the petroleum unit is doing at the Ministry of Natural Resources,” the minister reasoned.

Although the government may not be looking to establish the Petroleum Commission at this time, Bharrat said the body is likely to materialise in the future. As such, he made it clear that the same individuals hired to work in the ministry’s Petroleum Unit will be appointed to the Commission. “It’s these same gentlemen and ladies who you see here managing the unit will be on the Petroleum Commission because we can’t throw them away and bring a set of new staff and say you go, we will staff a commission with these people,” Bharrat noted. He said those individuals that have been hired are already experienced and qualified.

 

(Petroleum Commission should be installed immediately)

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• Guyana, Jagdeo, Oil and Gas, property, WPA

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