Trotman leaves Private Sector in dark on oil contract

…distances Natural Resources Ministry from Sovereign Wealth Fund

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman on Wednesday declared that Guyana’s estimated oil reserves now stood at some three billion barrels.
He was at the time speaking for the first time publicly since the most recent announcement by ExxonMobil that it had struck several hundred million barrels

more of oil.
Minister Trotman, however, sidestepped calls by the political Opposition to make a pronouncement with regard to the available petroleum in light of the contradictory statements made by his colleague Cabinet Minister David Patterson, or word on the public release of the oil contract.
The Natural Resources Minister was at the time a guest speaker at “Guyana Business Summit 2017”, which got underway on Wednesday at the Guyana Marriott Hotel.
Speaking on behalf of the political Opposition at the opening of the Business Summit organised by the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Charles Ramson Jr, a former parliamentarian, called on the Minister, to provide some insight on the matter of the proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).
The former parliamentarian was adamant that all frameworks have to be in place ahead of 2020 and describing the oil patrimony as an ‘apolitical’ issue, and called for information with regard to the release of the oil contract.
Enquiring of Government’s policies on concessions, Ramson Jr also called on Minister Trotman to, in fact, clarify its position since advisors across the world point to auctions.
He questioned too whether a contract had been issued to Tullow and Echo, an exploration joint venture which was handed an exploration licence by the current Administration – a licence that was months later flipped for profit when a significant portion of shares were sold to a French company.
The former Member of Parliament (MP) also called in vain for Minister Trotman to provide some clarity on the available petroleum concessions, since Minster Patterson had said all had been given out, but the information from the Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) indicated otherwise.
The Minister in rebutting Ramson Jr said Government viewed the Summit not as an arena for competition but for sharing ideas.
While not providing any responses to a number of the queries posed, the Minister did indicate to the gathering that the Sovereign Wealth Fund is being organised by another Ministry.
“We don’t set fiscal policy; we don’t determine how the money is spent,” the Minister said in defence of the Natural Resources Ministry.
According to Trotman, “we bring the resource to production”, while the Finance Minister is tasked with dealing with the fiscal aspect of the administration of the resources. He did indicate to the gathering that the admonitions of Ramson Jr have been heard and “yes, it [oil] has to be an apolitical resource.…Government’s prepared to sit with civil society to have a model that suits us best.”
Following the opening session, the first of the formal panel discussions was hosted targeting the energy sector and saw presentations and interactions involving Guyana Energy Agency Chairman, Dr Mahender Sharma; MP Juan Edghill, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Representative Jaime Sologuren Blanco and Shyam Nokta of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA).