Our actions are legit
Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman
Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman

– gov’t defends issuance of production licence to oil companies

The Guyana Government on Friday assured that every action it took with regard to the issuance of a petroleum production licence met all legal requirements and brushed aside a proposed court challenge by groups here.

In a statement, the Ministry of Natural Resources said it notes an article in the UK Guardian of March 22, 2018, under the headline ‘Guyanese campaigners mount legal challenge against three oil giants’. “Firstly, the Government of Guyana wishes to emphatically reaffirm that it zealously guards and defends the right of every citizen to seek recourse in law in pursuit of interests they believe to be worthy. Equally, the Government of Guyana is certain, as it is confident, that every action it took with regard to the issuance of the petroleum production licence met all legal requirements,” the ministry’s statement read.
It added that the Government of Guyana is prepared and willing to present all facts in this regard to any court with jurisdiction. “The Ministry of Natural Resources notes that this sort of action is not unusual in emerging oil economies, particularly during the stage leading up to first-oil, at which Guyana currently is. The ministry is satisfied that its partners engaged in exploration and preparation for production and taking every precaution in ensuring that there is minimal effect to the environment and that they are diligently putting systems in place to guard against any spills or mishaps.”

The ministry further assures all Guyanese, and the world at large, that it will continue to engage its partners – ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC Nexen – in ensuring that the interest of Guyana’s waters and environment remain top priorities as we pursue exploitation of Guyana’s natural resources with a view to fast track Guyana’s social, infrastructural and economic development. “The ministry calls on all Guyanese to remain vigilant and interested in ensuring that Guyana’s patrimony, in every regard, is protected and also to act in the best interest of the future development of this generation and generations to follow. No longer must Guyana be indefinitely consigned to Third World status and its people languish in less than desirable circumstances. We must join forces, as a nation, to ensure that every Guyanese enjoys the good life by the dint of hard work and the responsible exploitation of our nation’s God-given resources.”

Meanwhile, according to the UK Guardian article, lawyers acting for the Guyanese campaigners are to lodge the challenge in a court in Guyana this week. The UK Guardian quoted Melinda Janki, one of the lawyers representing the Guyanese campaigners, saying that the granting of licences to drill by the government was illegal. “It is very simple. If you want to extract oil in Guyana, you need an environmental permit in order to get a petroleum production licence,” she said. “Only one of the three companies involved has an environmental permit. We are seeking an order to quash the decision by the minister to issue the licence because, we are saying, he acted illegally.”

Janki lodged an appeal earlier this month after the first attempt to quash the granting of the licences was rejected by a judge. Ramon Gaskin, of A Fair Deal for Guyana campaign, said: “In my opinion the government has sold off Guyana’s oil without a care for the environment, without a care for the people, without a care for fishermen and others who stand to lose everything from a spill, without a care for Guyana’s marine environment, which could be totally destroyed, without a care for future generations who might inherit nothing but an oil slick, and without any understanding whatsoever of the dangers of climate change. People also have to understand that an oil spill or a well blow-out could harm our Caribbean neighbours and Guyana could be liable for that damage.”

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