Dear Editor,
The Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN) is disappointed at being denied media accreditation for its authorized representative assigned to cover the Inter-national Energy Conference and Expo Guyana 2022 on February 15-17 at the Marriott Hotel. The OGGN’s representative is a local energy expert with local and international experience who has also worked for a few universities, and appeared as an energy expert on media programmes such as Globespan, Kaieteur News Radio and Moray House Trust. Apart from the Kaieteur News and Stabroek News, the OGGN has published the most articles on oil and gas than any other group in Guyana or in the disaspora. OGGN was established in 2017 and associates’ skill sets include professors, economists, doctorates, leadership experts, authors, engineers, media columnists, computer experts, CPAs, MBAs, etc. based across the globe. Our work has been published in several media in Guyana, Canada, USA, Latin America and carried by newswire services.
OGGN speculates that perhaps the Conference organizers are not comfortable with media organizations who examine energy issues critically and engage in activist journalism on the side of the people versus rapacious corporate giants fleecing poor nations with support from sellout Governments and Opposition.
Mr. Colwyn Abrams, Communications Officer for the Conference Secretariat, in an email to OGGN said: “Please be advised that your application for media accreditation for the upcoming Inter-national Energy Conference and Expo Guyana 2022 has been denied. The denial of registration means that your entity does not meet the set requirements for media accreditation.”
One main Conference requirement is “Online Media” must meet the following requirements – “The applicant must have an established recording of having written extensively on energy and energy-related news and must present copies of three recently published articles.” The OGGN website (www.OGGN.org) hosts hundreds of articles including several infographics on oil; many videos explaining basic oil terms, resource curse, how women and rural citizens may obtain jobs in the oil and gas industry, flaring and environmental concerns; articles on taxes, comparisons of oil and gas in Guyana and Suriname contracts, etc.
In 2021, OGGN published the first Oil and Gas Directory of Jobs available in the oil industry in Guyana. No one else nor the Ministry of Labour had done that. The OGGN published that Directory and some media products listed above with support from a media grant from an international organization.
The OGGN regrets being shut out by the organizers of the Conference especially since local Guyanese stakeholders and citizens cannot afford to attend the conference. If OGGN were accredited, it would have been able to report on the conference to help Guyanese citizens understand the issues discussed at the Conference.
For instance, there are “Limited Tickets” for in-person attendance. The Conference website states, “Due to the high demand for tickets, we will be processing ticket requests on a case-by-case basis for the remainder of the registration period.” These tickets cost US$350.00 – US$1,000.00 per person. That is G$73,500 to G$210,000 per person which is more than a month’s salary for a minimum wage worker. So, nation, how many Guyanese citizens can afford to attend the Conference?
Similarly, for “Virtual Attendee Registration,” it costs US$150 for local Guyanese citizens. So, for locals it will cost G$31,500. For some people that can be a month’s or half a month’s salary. That’s more than the COVID cash grant or “Because We Care” grant. OGGN calls on the Conference organizers to consider the pricing structure and how it shuts out citizens of Guyana from understanding Energy issues. The Conference must also change its media policy that seems calculated to exclude legitimate media seeking to educate our Guyanese people. The people are watching.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall, Media Head, for Oil and Gas Governance Network (www.OGGN.org)
