Guyana should fiercely guard against secrecy in oil and gas sector – Trinidadian Energy Strategist

Jun 24, 2026 News

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…says key licences, agreements, terms and arrangements for GTE project must be public

(Kaieteur News) – Trinidadian Energy Strategist, Anthony Paul has urged Guyana to guard against secrecy in the oil and gas sector, a dangerous culture that gripped his home nation and affected the country from enjoying the full value of its natural resources.

“The Gas-to-Energy project should be a learning point. If key licences, agreements, cost-recovery arrangements, pipeline terms, gas supply arrangements, reimbursements or related project documents are not available in the same way petroleum agreements have been published, then citizens should ask why.” – Anthony Paul

In a column published on Sunday by Kaieteur News, the energy expert lauded Guyana’s efforts for publishing several petroleum agreements, but pointed to the deafening calls for transparency in the development of the gas industry with several documents still not public.

Paul explained, “The Gas-to-Energy project should be a learning point. If key licences, agreements, cost-recovery arrangements, pipeline terms, gas supply arrangements, reimbursements or related project documents are not available in the same way petroleum agreements have been published, then citizens should ask why. Not because the project is necessarily wrong. Not because development should stop. But because a national energy project funded by public resources and linked to petroleum production must be subject to public understanding.”

He added that the public should know (i) what agreements exist; (ii) who the parties are; (iii) what; (iv) recoverable costs; (v) what obligations the State has assumed; (vi) whether any licence, right or approval has been granted; (vii) whether any transfer or assignment has occurred and (viii) what information is confidential, and why.

The energy strategist insisted that sharing this information is not anti-government, but rather, pro-governance.

“A strong government should welcome this scrutiny because it strengthens its hand. When citizens understand the issues, the government can say to companies: these are not the demands of a few officials; these are the expectations of a people who understand their resource,” he added.

Paul urged the country to ensure it guards against hiding information from the public. He said, “Guyana should therefore guard fiercely against the slow return of secrecy. It begins quietly. First, a document is said to be too technical. Then an agreement is described as commercially sensitive. Then a project is treated as urgent. Then disclosure is delayed. Then citizens are told to trust the process.”

Trinidad and Tobago’s experience

Leaning on the lessons of T&T, the expert described how a country with more than a century of petroleum history lost enormous value from weak regulators, contracts kept from public scrutiny, lack of enforcement of legal safeguards and citizens not given the information needed to understand and defend their national interest.

Paul noted that across the Caribbean, citizens for years were told that oil and gas contracts were too sensitive, too technical or too commercially confidential for public scrutiny. Trinidad and Tobago’s experience however shows the danger of that culture, according to him. The energy strategist noted that even where the law required public records, the public could still be left unable to follow what happened to licences, renewals, transfers and assets.

In Trinidad’s case, the Petroleum Act provided for a petroleum register, where licences granted, assignments, renewals, surrenders, terminations and revocations were supposed to be recorded. Further, notice of these actions was supposed to be published in the country’s Gazette. To this end, Paul said, “In principle that should have allowed citizens, competitors, journalists, unions, investors and public-interest groups to see when petroleum rights changed hands. But the practical reality was different.”

The expert highlighted that some of the country’s most important petroleum licences became difficult for the public to track, as major renewals and transfers were announced through newspapers, industry reports or company statements. As such, the public record was not maintained in a way that allowed ordinary citizens to follow the full chain of rights, obligations and value.

Paul emphasised the importance of the information gap, pointing to the missed opportunity for Trinidad and Tobago to use expiring or renewed licences to foreign companies to strengthen its national company that closed its operations in 2018.

He explained, “Producing assets, platforms, wells, pipelines and related infrastructure may have been available to the State under the law when licences expired or acreage was surrendered. Instead, assets remained with or moved through private operators, and some were later sold.”

A lesson for Guyana

Paul believes Guyana is still in the early phases of its petroleum journey to avoid the mistakes of T&T. “It still has opportunities ahead: relinquished acreage, new contracts, farm-ins, asset transfers, corporate takeovers, future gas agreements, and eventual renewals or amendments to existing licences. Each of those moments can create value. Each can also move value away from the State if citizens and regulators are not alert,” he warned.

Moreover, the expert strongly advised Guyana against a “one-time” act of transparency and instead suggested a system crafted to inform the public. This means contracts and licences must be made public, creating public registers, Gazette notices, transaction disclosures, cost-recovery explanations and clear reporting when petroleum rights are granted, renewed, assigned, transferred, relinquished or terminated.

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• Anthony Paul, Energy Strategist, GTE, Oil and Gas Sector, secrecy, Transparency

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