Establishment of a refinery not in the initial plans

Dear Editor,

I read in one of the dailies that the United States Ambassador Mr Perry Holloway, had echoed the earlier statements by an official of ExxonMobil, Guyana re: “In terms of job creation, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that while this significant oil find will create jobs in Guyana, it is offshore and there are no initial plans for refining the oil in Guyana.”

I have a few questions. 1. What is meant by there are no initial plans; is there a specific time (number of years attached to this initial period) 2. Is this statement about the initial non-establishment of a refinery in Guyana, an official Government position, or is it that the contract with ExxonMobil stipulates that we cannot establish a refinery unless it is in association with ExxonMobil.

If this is not the position I would like to suggest that we should be engaging entities in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Norway, China, United States of America etc, etc, with a view towards producing a preliminary pre-feasibility analysis and term sheet so as to determine if it makes economic sense for us to establish a refinery over the next 5 to 7 years starting from 2018; I would further like to suggest that ownership should involve the Government of Guyana, the Local and International Private Sector and a Public Offering.

Regards,

Dunstan Barrow