Trotman’s public statements prove Minister Patterson is lying – Jagdeo

Petroleum mining blocks

…calls on Govt to publish list of oil concessions allocated

The People’s Progressive Party, through its General Secretary, Opposition Leader

A map from the Natural Resources Ministry showing the concessions which were given out and those which are still available

Bharrat Jagdeo, has dismissed as outright lies an assertion being levelled that the Jagdeo Administration had given out all of the available oil concessions/blocks; and is demanding that Government make available a list of all the petroleum-mining blocks available, the names of the persons or companies to whom they have been allocated, and the dates of allocation.
Jagdeo has said this disclosure would alert the public to the fact that no new

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

petroleum-mining blocks can be allocated in the near future.

Sensationalised lies
The Opposition Leader had said several front companies belonging to friends and relatives of ministers of Government were, through complex shareholding structures, applying for exploration and production licences for the available oil blocks. He has posited that the strategy was in fact to flip the licences to large foreign companies, since those front companies are unable to raise the large amounts of capital required to develop an oil-and-gas concession.
Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, on Thursday during an Alliance for

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman

Change press engagement at that party’s headquarters, was questioned on the allegations laid by Jagdeo the previous day.
Patterson responded by saying, “In Budget 2015, the Minister of Natural Resources made a statement saying that all available forest land had been given out; so all I can say is, ‘Ditto’…when we got in they (had given) out everything.”
Patterson continued: “Some of the people (to receive oil concessions) we don’t even know…so there is nothing to give.”
He said further: “The Opposition Leader could say that. Maybe he is hoping for someone to drop out, so that he could get in. But I want (to) tell you (there) is nothing to give; he has given out all, and he should know.”
Patterson said Jagdeo ought to know there is no oil concession/block available for allocation since, as President, he was in charge of the natural resources sector.

Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson

But in response to Patterson, Jagdeo has said: “Ministers of the Coalition Government continue to peddle massive lies and misinformation unashamedly and with impunity. They continue to get the Kaieteur News to sensationalize these lies with blazing headlines on the front pages of the newspapers — all with the intention to fool, mislead, and insult the intelligence of the public.”

Petroleum blocks
According to Jagdeo, the fact that oil concessions are still available was confirmed only recently by none other than the substantive minister, Trotman, when he recently referred to the existence of these petroleum-mining blocks.
Jagdeo pointed out that Minister Trotman, in his public pronouncements, had spoken to the issuance of new oil-and-gas exploration and production licences for

Newell Dennison, Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission

these blocks.
At the time, Trotman had said, “Whether we go openly and publicly with international bids, or whether we have quiet and private discussions, will be determined by the national interest.”
The Opposition Leader observed: “Without more, Trotman’s assertion by themselves prove that Patterson is lying… Moreover, everyone who has some familiarity with the sector knows that there are several petroleum-mining blocks available.”
The Opposition Leader has since further challenged Government, saying: “If Patterson has correctly expressed the position of the Government, then we call upon the Government to make public a list of all the petroleum-mining blocks, the names of the persons or companies to whom they have been allocated, and the date of allocation.”
This disclosure, according to Jagdeo, will alert the public to the fact that no new petroleum-mining blocks can be allocated in the near future.
Checks with the Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, as calls to his mobile phone, went unanswered.

GGMC context
The Guyana Times was directed by Trotman’s office to Newell Dennison, Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
Dennison told this publication he was unable to provide any assistance at the time, and that a response from the Commission would be informed by what was said by Patterson and its context.
According to Dennison, the matter of oil blocks being given out has to be seen in the context of what was given out and when, before referring further queries to the substantive minister.
Among the concessionaires named as operating in oil blocks in Guyana (onshore and offshore) are: NABI Oil and Gas Inc, ON ENERGY Inc, REPSOL, ANADARKO, ESSO/HESS/NEXEN, Mid-Atlantic Oil and Gas Inc, RATIO Energy/Guyana Ltd, and CGX Resources Inc.
The GGMC’s website has stated: “Presently, a number of companies are negotiating for concessions in the offshore Guyana area.”
Jagdeo in his repudiation of Patterson’s pronouncements, has said: “This is the same strategy of lying which we recently witnessed by the Government when they misled the nation for several months by claiming that they cannot disclose the ExxonMobil contract because they are prevented from doing so by a law passed by the Jagdeo Administration… We unmasked this lie two weeks ago. Not a word has come from the Government since.”
Complex shareholding
During his weekly media engagement with the local press corps on Wednesday, the Opposition Leader told media operatives that a worrying case of cronyism is currently evolving, in which relatives, friends and associates of ministers and senior Government functionaries have been incorporated into companies through complex shareholding arrangements, and they are applying for exploration and production licences for oil and gas in the blocs still available.
“It has been brought to our attention that a number of front companies with key APNU/AFC individuals and ministers and their families as shareholders have submitted applications to the Ministry of Natural Resources for petroleum exploration and production licences.
“There are at least two companies that we know of that have developed complex shareholding structures that have made applications”, Jagdeo disclosed.
Speaking to the need for the available blocs to instead be auctioned off rather than having preferred companies apply, Jagdeo pointed out that a premium must be considered.
He said the world-class discovery of oil in Guyana could be compared to a ‘gold shout’, and the moment oil was discovered, “there is a premium now to owning offshore blocs and getting an exploration or production licence.”
Newspaper ploy
Jagdeo was adamant that several of the local companies applying for petroleum licences “have no means whatsoever – who are aligned to ministers and their families, etc, and some others (are) cronies – they have no means of finding hundreds of millions of US dollars to do the exploration work.” He opined that the companies in question “will get these blocs and, weeks later, they will sell the blocs without any competitive process being followed”.
He also suggested that even some of the foreign companies that have been making applications had “unhealthy contacts with some ministers and their surrogates”.
In dismissing Minister’s Patterson’s dishonestly, Jagdeo also chided the Kaieteur News, which he accused of having a penchant for sensationalizing erroneous assertions.