Although government’s advisor on oil and gas, Jan Mangal, has argued that competitive bidding should be employed in the award of future oil exploration leases, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge says such an approach may not benefit Guyana’s interests in the long term.
“As regards… the allocation of blocks, this is a matter that is currently attracting the attention of the Minister of Natural Resources [Raphael Trotman]. I don’t want to preempt what he is going to do. As a government, we are interested in developing our resources in a systematic and economically rational manner. One of the things the minister has to consider—and I have urged him to consider—is that out interest in the maritime space is a long term interest, it is a development interest. So, we should not be speaking to these companies with a view to seeking whether we can make $12 million next year or $25 million and ignore the capacity of the company and its shareholders to resist foreign and malevolent pressure. We need to ask the question: What is the best we can get out of an amalgam of companies and arrangements in the medium and long term. You might get $45 million next year when you auction and in the long term this need not give you the best development outcome,” Greenidge told Stabroek News
