More than three years ago, and even before the first barrel of oil was produced, the 2016 Petroleum Agreement signed by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana limited (Esso) and Hess and CNOOC, its Joint Venture partners, concluded its first renegotiation with the Government of Guyana. The result was a Deed of Amendment (the Deed) signed by the oil companies and President David Granger in his capacity as Minister responsible for petroleum.
Specifically, the Deed amended Section 3.3 of Annex C – Accounting Procedure, to provide expressly that royalty paid by the Contractor under the Agreement would not be recoverable. Those who had argued that royalty was not a recoverable expense must have known of the renegotiation of this provision but never thought it necessary to share that information.
