ALL terms of the ExxonMobil Petroleum Agreement will be up for review in four years, said Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman.

However, the minister defended the much-criticised contract, maintaining that there is no such thing as a ‘perfect contract’. He said that the signing of the agreement with ExxonMobil was made in the interest of attracting investors to Guyana.

Trotman , speaking to the press yesterday, said that up until 2015, for many years there had been no discoveries of oil in Guyana and the country is still not completely ‘de-risked’, realities which must be taken into consideration.

He noted that what is more important is for the country to shift its focus to more pre-eminent concerns such as how best to utilise the volume of money it will be receiving to safeguard a better life for its citizens.

“We’ve been going through the finances with the International Monetary Fund only last week and they tell us that we are going to be earning billions of dollars.

“I think now the more important question is what do we do with what we are going to earn and how do we prepare for future generations in terms of health care, roads, bridges, the opening up of the country,” Trotman stated.

The minister said that in the future, the government will have improved opportunities to negotiate different terms for any new contracts due to the country’s changing realities.
Minister Trotman indicated that after some years of experience in oil production, there may be a number of things the government will want to address when the ExxonMobil contract is up for review.

Responding to allegations rumoured to have originated from the Bank of Guyana, that the US$18M signing bonus from ExxonMobil to Guyana has been transferred or spent, Minister Trotman said:

“I’m not aware of that. I know that the money was set aside for a specific purpose and the Minister of Finance has been speaking to Cabinet about this over a year on how it is going to be disbursed.

Once we qualified for our appearance at the World Court…then that triggered some release of funds, but that’s a matter for the Bank of Guyana and the Ministry of Finance.”
The Natural Resources Minister said although there is much commotion surrounding the number of blocks awarded to ExxonMobil, the said number was decided upon in 1999 by the then government which made the decisions for strategic reasons.

“[They] ensured that the blocks span the two extremes of our boundaries. In 2015 and 2016, the new government saw wisdom in that and so we did not interfere with the size of the block and neither do we intend to,” he said.

“Despite all that is claimed, the Minister of Natural Resources, or whoever is the minister at the time responsible for petroleum, does have the authority, under law, to vary sizes of blocks,” said Minister Trotman.

The minister said that there are a few blocks remaining, some which are located near to the shore and others deep offshore.

Trotman also addressed comments made by Trinidadian Engineer Richard Small, who stated that Guyanese should be involved in engineering, design and fabrication on the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel being constructed in Singapore.
In response, the minister said that there is presently no Guyanese that has experience in FPSO construction, but a team will be heading to Singapore in the next few months to make observations.

In addition, there are presently 12 Guyanese in Brazil being trained for the same purpose.
On the Local Content Policy for Guyana’s oil- and-gas sector, Trotman said that a final draft has been sent in by Trinidadian Energy Consultant Anthony Paul, with which the government will continue to work, with April as the proposed deadline.

Meanwhile, the formation of the Department of Energy is underway, as discussions are proceeding with President David Granger and models have been generated for future finalisation.