Guyana’s Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo says reckless statements and distorted facts about the oil and gas sector not only place the country at risk of being a global laughingstock but could even harm negotiations with external groups.
His position on his matter follows a publication in a section of the media that questioned whether royalties paid by an ExxonMobil-led consortium were being recovered.
Government refutes claim that Guyana will not benefit fairly from oil and gas sector | OilNOW
The Vice President said this very issue was raised last year and addressed by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) via an extensive press statement. The very document said, “Royalties paid to the Guyana Government is an Expense incurred in the production of income for the contractor(s), but is not allowable in the calculation of Cost Oil.”
“Had they read the press release and done the research, they would have seen that as an expense, it has to be in the financials but not be allowed for recovery,” the Vice President said, adding that international accounting rules would dictate how certain expenses are to be listed too.
Taking this into account he said, “…we cannot approach the sector in an ignorant, uninformed way or we become the laughing stock of the world. When you sit in these positions, you have to be careful.”
Guyana to the world: “we’ll do it our way” | OilNOW
The Vice President stressed that distorted truths or perspectives on the oil sector only make matters worse for the country which is playing on the international stage and whose every word is at risk of being repeated as a form of gospel.
“It makes the water even murkier by taking things that are clear and distorting them to suit an agenda. If we do this, then we cannot negotiate with the external groups that come here,” the Vice President. In conclusion, he appealed for stakeholders to exercise an abundance of care and caution when matters on the oil sector are being reported on.
