CGX properties, ‘relinquished area’ from Exxon to be part of next auction-Jagdeo

May 12, 2025 News

-says govt. has been very lenient with locals in first auction

Kaieteur News- The government is yet to close the first oil block auction, but Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that the properties once controlled by CGX, and the portion that ExxonMobil is yet to relinquish, will form part of the second auction.

At his weekly press conference last Thursday, Jagdeo was asked to give an update on the auction and shed light on what was taking so long for it to conclude. “The reason we didn’t shut the activity down is because, the next auction that we intend to pursue, we’re going to have several more properties, including the ones that were not taken up by this auction, the CGX properties, as well as the relinquished area on the Exxon (Stabroek Block). So, the next auction especially if we cut the blocks into small areas like we did under the past auction, we’d have several properties to put out,” he explained.

CGX properties, ‘relinquished area’ from Exxon to be part of next auction-Jagdeo

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Jagdeo went on to say that now there are two policy documents in place, the government is now looking to bolster them with seismic studies. Therefore, with the second auction when they will be putting out all of the new blocks, it is expected that more serious bids would be attracted.

The vice president clarified that there is no rush to do such, hence the reason they can, “play around and give more time to the existing investors because if we wanted, we could have closed the deal but we’re not going out back to an auction immediately.” The first auction still has to be concluded, before the second one can begin.

He disclosed that if the local group can raise the money or and bring in a good partner, then the auction will conclude with them. However, if they cannot it is fine, as while the government is not losing money or sleep, the blocks will not be put back on the market, until seismic is done for them. Jagdeo also reasoned that as it is the government has been very lenient with the locals, as they have been bending over backwards trying to accommodate them then and now.

The VP boasted that his government had done away with the old ways of allocating the oil blocks, instead they are allowing person to make application where the blocks will be awarded transparently through an auction, in a public bidding process.

“We said before we allow the auction to conclude, we will supply those who are going to make bids two documents one a new PSA and two a new Petroleum Act because the policies in these two documents would influence the quality and the nature and the bid price the bid price,” the oil chief explained.

Admitting that auctions do go for shorter periods, he reasoned that this one became protracted because it took time to develop the policy, as international regimes had to be studied. Even though the new PSA caters for additional benefits Jagdeo said that government did not want to be in a position where Guyana would become non-competitive with other countries seeking investment dollars for their oil and gas industry. The new law in place also dictated that several things be changed, and it was made clear that a signing bonus has to be paid which is a new feature.

“Most of the bidders were newcomers with no track record. One of the bids had was a more serious maybe two of them more serious bids from people who had some experience one of those had issues with some of the provisions the non-fiscal measures there. So, we said we were accommodating those and I think we can and we want to move forward with them,” he added. There are two oil blocks that were awarded to local groups, and the government has been working along with them, to see if they can come up with the signing bonus and meet all other obligations.

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Auction, CGX properties, Exxon, Jagdeo, lenient

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