–to engage int’l advisers on global market, Jagdeo says
THE Government of Guyana is in no rush to host a second oil auction, People’s Progressive Party General Secretary and the country’s Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has said.
Dr. Jagdeo, while responding to questions posed by the local media on Thursday, said that the government is still engaging those companies that would have participated in the country’s first oil auction, which concluded at the end of 2023.
The General Secretary was quizzed on when the government will exhaust and abandon the negotiating process with those companies that are unable to secure partners and funding.
“We have time on our side, because it’s not like we are in any rush to go out
to the second auction. If there was like a timeline set for the second auction, we had to bring this to a close by a particular time. So, we are still working with the companies,” Dr. Jagdeo explained.
The government, he noted, is also now in the process of securing a firm to conduct a 3D seismic study of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) offshore.
Once completed, this will provide the government and potential buyers with access to high-quality seismic data for effective evaluation during future bidding and licensing rounds.
This is among several initiatives being undertaken by the government to improve the bidding process for oil blocks, and although there have been expressions about the country’s fiscal condition, Guyana, Jagdeo noted, will not make any changes. However, the government is prepared to be more flexible on some of the other positions.
“We don’t share that view that the 10 per cent royalty is unreasonable on a 10 per cent tax, especially in a country now that is not a frontier country any longer; one that is producing 1.3 million barrels a day soon. So, we are getting to be like a fairly mature jurisdiction,” Dr. Jagdeo explained.
Further, he noted that the government will engage with its international advisers on the global market trends ahead of its second auction.
“We will have to talk to our international advisers; they know what is going on in the field of auctions globally,” he said, adding: “The time when we had put our expressions, you had 80 countries at the same time, so we were competing with other counties globally for petroleum money.”
Back in 2023, the government closed its first offshore licensing round with six companies bidding on eight of the 14 blocks offshore.
Of those, six companies were awarded oil blocks, among them a woman-owned Guyanese company, Sispro Inc., which secured two blocks.
There is a minimum of US$10 million for the exploration licence for shallow-water blocks, while in the deep-water blocks, there is a minimum of US$20 million for the exploration licence.
Sispro Inc. was awarded oil blocks S3 and D2; TotalEnergies EP Guyana B.V. in consortium with Qatar Energy International E&P LLC and Petronas E&P Overseas SDN BHD was awarded S4. Additionally, S5 was awarded to International Group Investment Inc.
Liberty Petroleum Corporation and Cybele Energy Limited got the S7 block, while ExxonMobil Guyana Limited, Hess New Ventures Exploration Limited and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited were awarded S8.
The S10 block was awarded to International Group Investment Inc. and Delcorp Incorporated, while Watad Energy and Communications Ltd and Arabian Drilling Company won D1.
