The government is still to decide how the remaining oil exploration blocks will be assigned despite a statement by its petroleum advisor, Dr Jan Mangal, that competitive bidding is the way to go to avoid the risk of corruption.
“…Whether we use the open bidding mechanism or direct negotiations to allocate these blocks to oil and gas investors will be determined by the national interest, which will be determined by Cabinet,” Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman said on Thursday in response to a question by Stabroek News.
His reference to remaining oil blocks underlined a recent blunder of Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, who had said at a press conference that all the blocks had been allocated under the former People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) governments.
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