Renegotiation of Production Sharing Agreement is a no-no

Dear Editor,
The President has said, “There would be no rejigging or renegotiation of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil.” And with those words, he hopes there will be a closing of that chapter of the oil deal.
The point the President was making is that, although lopsided and backward, this contract was negotiated and signed between the legitimate Government of Guyana and the oil giant ExxonMobil, so there is a clear and established deal here.
That lopsided agreement was signed, sealed and delivered between the PNC-led Coalition Guyana Government and ExxonMobil. This was an agreement that was done by the then Guyana Government on behalf of the people of this great country, so there should be no questions asked; they were the elected Government, and in this regard, had every right to enter into an agreement with the oil giant on our behalf.
At least, so it seems. Because the same PNC party, who are now playing amnesiac, should pay keen attention to the fact that they were the ones who were acting on our behalf. Their trying now to renege on their responsibilities to the people is simply ludicrous, if not asinine. Failing the people of Guyana on this deal is inexcusable, and the PNC should be hanging their heads in shame.
But they are not. Rather, they are making inordinate demands on the PPP/C Government to correct this malady. Instead of joining hands with the Government in making whatever changes there are to be made, they are apportioning blame on the Government.
Something is interesting to note here: seeing the PNC are so concerned with the lopsided deal, why weren’t they interested in the use of, or whereabouts of, the proceeds of the agreement; that is: the ExxonMobil signing bonus?
Where is that US$18M signing bonus that was our first oil money, Jordan? and I ask the question: “Where is it?” But I will deal with that in another article. So, Editor, I humbly ask that you grant me the privilege to use my usual term “Sympathetic Judases”. They are now shouting at the top of their lungs at this Government to clean up their mess, when they should be coming forward with evidence of our first oil money.
Renegotiation of an international contract like this one has very serious consequences, chief of which are: it undermines investor confidence as well as project the sitting Government in a bad light. ExxonMobil would have opined, “Here comes another brainless Kangaroo government to deal with”; and maybe, just maybe, might want to peddle the same foolishness to us. But a transparent and forward-thinking Government such as the PPP/C would not be dragged into that morass. We are an erudite, modern Government that takes pride in doing business in a transparent way, and that is what we are going to do.

Respectfully,
Neil Adams