–– says party ‘slaps together’ responses to VP’s press conference, does no real research

The Alliance For Change (AFC) lead oil and gas ‘expert’, Vincent Adams, has been grilled for his “callous, careless and shallow” statements on the sector by Former AFC member, Leonard Craig.
In a column published on Monday, Craig criticised statements made by Adams along with the manner in which the party holds its press conferences.

He said that the AFC “slaps” together responses on Fridays based on what Guyana’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, says on Thursdays. Because of this approach, he stated that the party does not give itself ample time to put together responses that are robust and properly researched.
At the AFC press conference last Friday, Adams said that, Guyana’s income from oil will never be 50 + 2 per cent and misconstrued the concepts of ‘cost oil’ with ‘profit oil.’

Craig pointed out the pseudo-intellectual nature of Adams and stated that even though he attempted to rebut the Vice President’s assertions that in due course Guyana will receive its full share of 50 per cent of revenues, it was evident that Jagdeo was referring to ‘profit oi.’
Craig then stated: “He guesstimated that 30 to 40 per cent of oil will go towards production costs and the difference of 60 per cent when split is no more than 30 per cent coming to the NRF. Dear Dr. Adams, regardless of the size of the deductibles associated with production (cost oil), that which remains

represents 100 per cent of “profit oil” which has to be split 50/50. Further, the two per cent royalty is taken from the gross of production and not an additional two per cent of profit. Therefore, the royalty fee will fluctuate as an overall percentage when juxtaposition directly against profit oil depending on the magnitude of cost oil.”

Craig also said that Adams got “egg” in his face by accusing the government of reneging on a promise to re-negotiate the current Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreements (PSA).
“There is no record anywhere of a promise to renegotiate the PSA, it has been a firm and steadfast position of Granger’s PNC and the PPP/C, both in and out of government, to not force renegotiations,” the Former AFC member wrote.

He then called out the party for not paying close attention to the changes to future agreements and what contributions they can make to improving it, but instead the party is being consumed with non-issues.
Guyana’s profit oil refers to the portion of oil funds from offshore oil production that the government of Guyana is entitled to, after deducting costs and expenses incurred by the oil companies.

Under its PSAs with oil companies: ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNOOC, Guyana receives a percentage of the oil extracted once the companies recover their exploration and production costs.
As of recent years, the country’s share of profit oil has increased significantly and this has led to a major economic boost for Guyana, as the country is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world due to its burgeoning oil sector.