The parliamentary Opposition is willing to support a motion made by the coalition Government to have the oil contract renegotiated with ExxonMobil once it is done from a bipartisan standpoint and will benefit the Guyanese people.
This is according to Opposition Leader Dr Bharrat Jagdeo who in a press conference today said the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) would support the Government renegotiating the oil contract with U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil.
“We are prepared to share our views at any moment, because this is a national patrimony, that is why we called for a nonpartisan, non-political approach, take all of the politicians out of the petroleum commission… it should be purely technically managed and that would be good for long term relations between the country and ExxonMobil too” Jagdeo said.
Jagdeo hinted that while the Opposition would support the move, they would not initiate it, sine it could then be misconstrued that his party wants to undermine investment in the country.
The Opposition Leader says that the contract in its current form could harm Guyana in the long-run based on changes in four clauses which benefit the oil company more than the country.
The four clauses he posited are the extension of the agreement, the stability clause surrounding taxes, the changes to the relinquishment requirement and the regulation of the gas sector.
Jagdeo said if the gains for ExxonMobil from those clauses are measured and compared against what Guyana will and has received – which he calculated to be US$3B annually –the country and its people have sacrificed long-term benefits for short term gains because of Government’s unpreparedness and incompetence in negotiating the new oil contract.
