Latest update December 28th, 2024 2:40 AM
Latest News
- Jagdeo dodges question on whether Exxon formally said it will not renegotiate 2016 contract
- Gas-to-Energy contractor submits new claims to arbitration panel over soil conditions
- Israeli soldiers burn Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, force hundreds to leave
- 100 not out!
- US EXIM Bank approves US$527M loan for Gas-to-Energy project
Jagdeo dodges question on whether Exxon formally said it will not renegotiate 2016 contract
-says government not interested in optics
Kaieteur News- Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday dodged a direct question on whether ExxonMobil has formally written to the government indicating that it is not open to renegotiating the 2016 oil contract.
Instead, the country’s oil and gas spokesman sought to blame the APNU+AFC administration for signing the lopsided deal before saying that his government is not interested in optics.
Journalist Denis Chabrol questioned whether the oil company has said in writing that “we will not renegotiate, as opposed to just saying it in the public domain, probably in a conversation and what is wrong with going with taking it to dispute resolution?”
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo. (Jagdeo dodges question on whether Exxon said it will not renegotiate 2016 contract)
In response, Jagdeo said, “As I said before, we’re not dealing with the optics. We’re dealing with substance. If you want to deal another party, you can ask this question…The AFC and the others can deal with optics. They, they, they did that before. They’re the ones who signed the agreement. Now, suddenly they think, oh, we should renegotiate the agreement. The PNC, I don’t know what your position is, because everyday changes. That’s one thing with the PPP. You’re not going to get a PR politics,” he stressed.
He reasoned that the government is not going after renegotiation now because it needs to focus on locking in all of the investments it can get since it is becoming harder to secure them.
Jagdeo reminded the media that his party said it would “renegotiate the five the other contracts. Which we did… the five other contracts, we will not touch this one for the following reasons.”
He then said that the renegotiation will trigger a loss of momentum, loss of investments and also be a danger to achieving net zero.
He added that Exxon has already said to everyone including the government that they are not interested in, nor will they accept any renegotiations.
“The provision that APNU put in the PSA is that it has to be done with the consent of both parties, the agreement of both parties. If one party says no, which they have already said, what do you do there? The next stage is a dispute. You have a dispute,” he explained.
On December 21, this publication reported that while serving as Opposition Leader, Jagdeo said Guyanese should be sad each time ExxonMobil makes a new oil discovery since the then administration accepted a bad deal. He even went on to commit to “renegotiate those contracts”.
However, last week, Jagdeo, who has since been appointed as Vice President, said he never meant that the deal with Exxon would be renegotiated.
During his press conference, Kaieteur News reminded the VP of his statements shared while he was the Leader of the Opposition, and asked him to say whether he still holds that view and why.
In his response, Jagdeo said, “Yes, so I said that, and I held to the view and not only did I say that, I said that these contracts…will be renegotiated. So, we had, at that time, six contracts, that is, with Kaieteur, Canje block, several blocks. So, we said we are not gonna renegotiate the Stabroek contract because we are already in production, and we will kill the momentum.”
He went on to explain, “Remember when I was talking about this, there were six contracts outstanding so we said we will renegotiate those contracts and we’ve effectively kept our promise because we made it clear that the new fiscal regime would have to apply to all of the contracts that were outstanding then or currently outstanding, except the Stabroek Block.”
Jagdeo said his previous statement often causes confusion, since it was interpreted to mean that the Stabroek Block contract would be renegotiated. He, however, noted that government has kept its promise to “renegotiate the contracts” since the new Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) will apply to the other blocks.
“We have effectively renegotiated five of them because we made it clear that the new PSA would have to apply to all of the five that are outstanding, outside of the Stabroek Block, so Canje, Kaieteur, everything else,” he said.
(Jagdeo dodges question on whether Exxon said it will not renegotiate 2016 contract)
(Jagdeo dodges question)
- dodges, Exxon, Jagdeo, PSA, renegotiate
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
A Tale of Two Non-appointments
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- In Guyana, under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) government, the Constitution... more
Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Weekend Cartoon
