Renegotiate, rescind, reimburse, then auction off so that Guyana reaps the maximum value from its oil blocks, is the advice that petroleum expert Dr Jan Mangal drilled into those who attended his presentation at the Guyana Petro-leum Summit in Houston, Texas on Thursday.
He also warned that if the contentious Exxon-Mobil deal is preserved as is and benefits do not accrue to people, the greater is the possibility of the economic and social devastation currently occurring in neighbouring Venezuela, happening here. In his presentation on the topic, ‘Regulatory & Risk: Securing Guyana’s future – The opportunities and the risks’, Mangal also proposed several solutions including applying new terms on a project-by-project basis so that both the companies and the country benefit. He also highlighted that the ‘unusually large’ Stabroek Block controlled by ExxonMobil could contain all of Guyana’s oil.
Emphasising that government’s focus needs to be on maximising the revenue from the oil sector, the former Petroleum Advisor to President David Granger said that government should push for a renegotiation of the current Production Sharing Agree-ment (PSA) with Exxon-Mobil. He said that it should simultaneously rescind questionable contracts and put them out to auction.
