Dear Editor,
I was surprised to learn that, by next year, oil production will triple from its 2021 levels with the arrival of the second FPSO, Liza Unity.
If this information is correct, that would mean instead of six lifts this year, Guyana will be entitled under the Production Sharing Agreement to 18 lifts.
That would be Guyana selling 18 million barrels of oil at a price that could be around US$70 per barrel. (It seems hard to be certain, but many see this as the price through 2022) That translates into US$1.26B in revenue plus about US$170M in (2%) royalties on total production. We are therefore looking at US$1.4B in income in addition to the US$500M already in a NY bank account. US$1.9B!
We can learn two lessons from how events are unfolding down in Guyana. The doomsayers who wrote over and over that Guyana would get little to nothing from the PSA were wrong. In fact, it is working out astonishingly well, and a lot of this is down to Exxon’s ability to discover oil at unheard of rates of success, and then move through what is an extremely complex process to start production so quickly.
As for those who said the Stabroek Block was too big for one consortium, they should ask themselves how well the other operators are doing in the basin, and where we might have been in a different scenario.
This is an incredible success story for all involved, but especially for the land of my birth, which was forever poor and depressed.
Now is the time for Guyanese, as one voice both at home and in the diaspora, to call on our Government to start addressing poverty in our homeland in a systematic and sustained way. There is no reason, with this kind of wealth, why a single Guyanese household should have to live in poverty for a single day more.
2022 should be dedicated to the eradication of poverty.
Sincerely
Arjoon Singh (NYC)
