Hess to buy US$750m in Guyana’s carbon credits over 10 years

The signing of the pact: John Hess is seated at right and Abena Moore, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President is seated at left. (Office of the President photo)

Hess Corporation, one of the partners in Guyana’s lucrative offshore oil block, yesterday announced the purchase of US$750m of this country’s carbon credits over 10 years and 15% of the monies will go to Indigenous communities.

The Hess purchase followed an announcement on Thursday by the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART) of the issuance of over 33 million carbon credits to this country. Hess will purchase the first 30 per cent of that amount for a minimum of US$750 million over a ten-year period.

However, while the agreement period between the two partners is from 2022 to 2032, government says that it was able to negotiate a ‘legacy credit’ amount of 12.5 million credits at US$15 per tonne, thus receiving a US$187 million sum for the period 2016 to 2020. In two weeks, US$75 million of that amount will be deposited into the account and the remainder paid within 18 months.