…says Guyana capable of handling emerging oil sector

GUYANA’S Foreign Affair’s Ministry has refuted the recently publicised Huffington Post article, which seems to highlight Guyana as incapacitated and unprepared for its upcoming oil sector.Speaking out on the matter for the first time, Minister Carl Greenidge described that article as an attack on the dignity of the country, and one with many “erroneous” statements. In an invited comment, Greenidge explained to the Guyana Chronicle how misleading the article by the Greenpeace USA blogger was to state that the US State Department has “oversight” of Guyana and will be writing oil and gas regulations for the country.

The US article claimed conflict of interest that the former Chief Executive Officer of Exxon Mobil, the US Company drilling for oil here, Rex Tillerson, was chosen by America’s newly elected President to perform the duty of Secretary of State, with responsibility for managing US oil policies overseas. It was stated that the oil find has also railed up old land grievances with neighbouring Venezuela, forcing that country to sharpen military activity on the border.

Minister Greenidge noted that the Huffington Post article claimed that Guyana has, “no real framework for regulating multinational oil companies and would thus be “pillaged” by the oil giant. He pointed out however that, “Guyana passed legislation on oil exploration long before the Exxon discovery – as far back as 1986.” He said Guyana has received technical assistance from time to time from several countries (most notably from Canada and the UK) in the years after independence.

“Guyana itself has also contributed in this field to many international agencies such as the Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Bank, as well as foreign Governments from Papua New Guinea to Ethiopia.” “Guyana is hardly the country without expertise, or the country wholly dependent on the US that the author attempts to portray it as,” Greenidge insisted.

He continued that, “Guyana has a long history of dealing with multinationals. Since the ALCOA bauxite mining operations as long ago as 1914, Guyana has dealt with many major, powerful international corporations, ranging from Reynolds Metals Company and Bookers McConnel/Booker Tate to Chase Manhattan and Jessels Holdings.”

Greenidge went on to express worry about the blog’s “…link between Venezuela’s militarisation along Guyana’s border and its incursions into Guyana’s waters as if it is somehow Guyana’s fault for having agreed to given exploration licenses to Exxon and other companies to develop its offshore resources. The false assumption in the post is that Venezuela somehow has a valid claim over Guyana’s maritime space…”

The Minister expressed his suspicion that the writer has no knowledge of the Guyana and Venezuela’s border being determined in 1899 by an arbitral award and latter occurrences to thus make certain assertions. “To suggest that Venezuela’s baseless claim over Guyana’s offshore resources made in 2015 somehow resulted in Guyana seeking confrontation is an absurd logic and is not supported by the facts.” Greenidge said Venezuela’s belligerent claims predate any involvement of Exxon Mobil.

It was pointed out that blogger behind the post should withdraw the allegations, while Greenpeace US would want to distance itself from such “an unfair attack on the dignity of a sovereign nation.” “It is unbecoming to make such claims without making any effort to learn about our history and our woes over the past fifty years as we have struggled to protect our sovereignty and independence.”

Greenidge charged that it is unfortunate that Guyana was depicted as a mere recipient of legal edicts from foreign countries, rather than an engaged and experienced member of the international community.