ONE of the newly formed local political parties, Change Guyana, has promised to engage a reputable public, international law firm to review existing oil contracts and the architecture for governance of the oil and gas industry.
Change Guyana, which was formed by its presidential candidate Robert Badal and its prime ministerial candidate, Nigel Hinds, said in a statement that any government or aspiring Government of Guyana has one fundamental responsibility. That responsibility is to get the best possible advice and support when representing its people at the negotiating table and elsewhere.

“The manner in which successive governments went about awarding oil blocks and negotiating agreements, falls well short of its obligation to the present and future citizens of Guyana,” said the political party.
The party believes that where the management of the national oil and gas patrimony is concerned, there have been misrepresentations and lack of transparency in several areas.
“There have also been vague statements by past and present government officials, including attempts to deny concerns being expressed by international experts about the extraordinary and globally unprecedented poor terms and conditions of the Production Sharing Agreements entered into by the Government of Guyana,” said Change Guyana.
In making reference to Barbados’ approach to making decisions, the political party said years ago, the island state, with much less at stake, hired public, international law firms to help them think through their own processes. Change Guyana believes that the government should have followed suit.

“The issue is the fundamental responsibility of leaders of this country to ensure that they have the best possible legal and other representation when making decisions and agreements about our national patrimony,” said the political party.
Change Guyana said it is committed to meeting this obligation to the citizenry as well as to ensuring that there is genuine transparency and accountability.
It was reported early this year that the Government of Guyana understands that effective oil and gas legislation is needed as the country heads into ‘first oil’ and a “master plan” for the legislative drafting process has been recommended.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, had said that with ‘first oil’ expected for Guyana in early 2020, the country must implement the necessary legislative mechanisms which will effectively meet the needs of the emerging industry. He noted that the petroleum sector will require a carefully drafted regulatory framework which guarantees both sustainable economic development for Guyana and incentives to investors.
Such a system will ensure transparency and accountability and contribute to good governance in general.

“Legislation will have to address a myriad of issues and canvass several government agencies as the petroleum sector will have a cascading effect on the other sectors. For example, drilling oil wells means increased threats to the environment; we can all remember the BP oil spills and its effect on the environment. The possibility of these accidents occurring demonstrates the need of having a framework for not only managing the petroleum and gas sector, but all of the foreseeable offshore oil and gas activities,” Williams said.