Hydroelectric Project

Guyana: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned reports carried in Venezuelan press regarding the approval of a new resolution approved by the Energy and Petroleum Commission of the Venezuelan National Assembly (19.03.2017)

It has come to the attention of the Government of Guyana through a media report in the Venezuelan publication El Nacional of 15th March 2017 that a resolution of the Energy and Petroleum Commission of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela entitled ‘Approved Agreement to Reject Oil Operations in the Essequibo’ has called for the immediate cessation of on-going offshore oil exploration and exploitation activities under Guyanese license in the Stabroek concession block well within the maritime Exclusive Economic Zone of Guyana in accordance with international law. So far as the Government of Guyana is aware, the Government of Venezuela has not adopted or otherwise endorsed the resolution, in which case the Government of Guyana would respond as appropriate.

The inflammatory resolution contains serious factual and legal errors. First, it suggests erroneously that the offshore activities in Guyanese waters have “recently” commenced whereas the Stabroek license was awarded in 1999 and exploration commenced the following year in 2000, 17 years ago. Second, it suggests erroneously that Guyana is prohibited from developing its resources in this area because of Article V of the Geneva Agreement of 1966. But nothing whatsoever in the terms of that provision indicates that the parties cannot exercise jurisdiction over their sovereign territories. Otherwise, it would mean that for the past fifty years, Guyana had no right to develop 70% of its territory, and the same applies to Venezuela’s development of the Orinoco region and adjacent maritime area which, like the Essequibo, was the subject of the 1899 Arbitral Award. Needless to say, such an argument is manifestly absurd.

This political posturing comes at an unfortunate time when the UN Secretary-General has appointed Ambassador Dag Nylander as his Personal Representative to provide Guyana and Venezuela a final opportunity to resort to the Good Offices process in order to resolve the controversy arising from Venezuela’s contention that the 1899 Arbitral Award delimiting the land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela is “null and void”. The parties have until the end of 2017 to make significant progress in arriving at a final resolution of the controversy failing which the Secretary-General will refer the matter to the International Court of Justice. Guyana is fully committed to the search for a full and final resolution of the controversy under the Good Offices process in the limited time that remains. Such deliberate provocations and absurd demands that Guyana halt all development activities, especially when for over fifty years Venezuela has intimidated Guyana and obstructed a resolution of the controversy in accordance with international law, only serve to undermine this final opportunity for the parties to once and for all bring an end to this matter by agreement, failing which adjudication will be the only remaining means of settlement.

Guyana remains committed to friendly and neighbourly relations with the Government and people of Venezuela, but it will categorically refuse to surrender any of the sovereign rights to which it is entitled under international law, not least in this, the fifty-first anniversary of its independence from colonial rule, as a new period of prosperity awaits its people.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
March 17, 2017

Press and Publicity Unit
Ministry of the Presidency

A look into the Exxon Mobile offshore adventure in Guyana!

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There been in the works for years about offshore drilling on the outside of the coast of Guyana. This has been well-known and is internationally known, as before the drilling the start. There was made arrangement between Exxon Mobile and Republic of Guyana. Therefore the squabble of the sea-bed and the ocean with Venezuela and Guyana… shows that both nations knew the value, as even at one point the Suriname could have showed with aggression of force towards Guyana. This was in the calculation of the United States Oil Company. Exxon Mobile was aware of this even in the 1990s and therefore before the boarders of the sea nd the republics right of the possible offshore adventure, the company had assessed the possible problems ahead. That shows how far this company goes to get massive profits. This is one of the Standard Oil babies, therefore the Exxon Mobile has a history and that repeat itself. Even Rex Tillerson the newly appointed State Secretary in the Trump Administration had something to do with newly forged deals with the Guyana republic. As the Republic of Guyana, also difference in value of the oil reserve between 2016 and 2017 is staggering. That the oil value goes from $70bn in 2016 instead of $200bn in 2017. This shows the proof what is coming and what the state can benefit from the oil drilling. Take a look!

Tillerson in Guyaya:

“Rex Tillerson was scheduled to meet with Guyanese President David Granger at mid week to discuss ExxonMobil’s humongous oil and gas find of the country’s Atlantic coast back in May of last year. He was due to arrive late Tuesday” (…) “Oil Minister Raphael Trotman says every effort is being made to avoid this. Legislation which had catered mostly to deal with exploration rather than production is being updated, local content clauses requiring companies to hire locals and buy local will be included and professionals are being scrambled for overseas training in areas including petroleum law” (…) “Trotman has also said that a big chunk of revenues from the first few years of production — expected to commence around 2019-20 — will go to Exxon, meaning that Guyana “would be getting hundreds of millions of dollars but once that phased is passed we are taking about billions annually. At today’s prices the Liza find is worth about $70 billion dollars” (Wilkerson, 2016).

By law in Guyana Parliament:

“This Order may be cited as the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) (Tax Laws) (Esso Exploration and Production Limited, CNOOCNexen Petroleum Guyana Limited and Hess Guyana Exploration Limited) Order 2016” (…) ““Agreement” means the Petroleum Agreement between the Government of Guyana of the one part and Esso Exploration and Production Limited, CNOOCNexen Petroleum Guyana Limited and Hess Guyana Exploration Limited of the other part dated 27 June 2016 concerning the Stabroek Block, Offshore Guyana, which is a production sharing agreement” (Guyana, 2016).

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Agreement in 1990s:

“Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) has a Production Sharing Contract with the Government of Guyana dating back to 1999, which now covers 26.8k km2 in the Stabroek block, following required acreage releases (Figure A.1). In 2014, Hess (30%) and Nexen (25%) farmed in to the block. In May 2015, EEPGL announced a significant discovery of high-quality oil-bearing sands with the Liza-1 well (approximately 190 km [120 miles] offshore Guyana)” (Esso, P: 1, 2016).

Staboek oil drilling:

“The FPSO will be designed to receive full well stream production and process oil at a design rate of 100,000 Barrels of Oil Per Day (BOPD) annual average, with the ability for sustained peaks of up to 120,000 BOPD, and a minimum oil storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels of oil. It will be designed to remain on station continuously for at least 20 years. Production and injection wells will be tied back (i.e., connected) directly to the FPSO via flowlines and risers. Umbilical(s) will provide power, control, and subsea chemicals to the drill centers” (…) “At peak production during Phase 1, the FPSO will offload up to 1 million barrels of oil to a conventional tanker approximately once every 10 days using an industry proven FPSO tandem offloading configuration. The conventional tanker will be held in position with the assistance of tug(s) to maintain a safe separation distance of approximately 120m from the FPSO” (Esso, P: 8, 2016).

Plan for Decommissioning:

“At this time, the expectation is that the SURF components would be detached from the FPSO and abandoned-in-place on the sea floor, consistent with standard industry practice. Risers and umbilicals would be flushed before being abandoned and wells would also be plugged and abandoned. For each well, cement and mechanical barriers would be used to secure the well casing and isolate the wellbore from the formation. A cement plug would also be set near the mudline surface to cap each well. The FPSO is expected to be towed away” (Esso, P: 11, 20016).

Waste Production:

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The new report of 2017 has more details into the production offshore of Guyana. There are certainly new aspects of the oil drilling. Where the environment get a little bigger aspect as even the changes of environment get a few more fleshy details:

“Air emissions resulting from the Project have the potential to change ambient air quality in the Project Area of Interest (AOI) on a localized basis. Potential impact of greenhouse gas emissions from the Project on climate change” (…) “Subsea sound could cause impacts to sensitive marine fauna (e.g., whales, turtles, and fish) in the PDA” (…) “The Project will disturb marine geology and sediments on a localized basis in the PDA and could impact sediment quality from non-aqueous base fluid (NABF) on drill cuttings discharges” (…) “The Project could potentially impact beaches, mangroves, and wetland habitats in the Project AOI as a result of non-routine, unplanned events” (…) “The Project has the potential to adversely impact cultural heritage through localized disturbance of archaeological or historical sites related to Project development. These resources have conservation, cultural, and other values to stakeholders” (Esso, P: 14-17, 2017)

So with this in mind the government has even had a workshop in February this year. So that the Exxon Mobile Corporation and their drilling and offshore petroleum in the sea of Guyana. The whole deal and agreement between the nation and the business is not clear to the public, except that the business is supposed to be licenced for the drilling and give tax-monies of the production. The Exxon Mobile has already proven that they don’t build a refinery, so the export from the platform to the specialized boats to transport petroleum. Therefore the meeting in Jamaica, Kingston, shows the ability to speak with the ones that starting industry in the South American Nation:

“A HIGH-LEVEL team of Government officials was on Wednesday morning briefed by ExxonMobil on its production preparations, a move which marks the commencement of a series of consultations by the U.S. oil giant with stakeholders.The technical briefing was held at the Marriott Hotel, Kingston and a similar exercise was also expected to be carried out later in the day with a team led by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo” (…) “The report stated that early, rough estimates by experts of how much recoverable oil Guyana could have range to more than four billion barrels, which at today’s prices would be worth more than US$200B.

In addition to the Liza field, Exxon and drilling partner, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited are also exploring the Payara field, which is part of a block of 6.6 million acres. On January 12, Exxon announced that its drilling partner encountered more than 95 feet (29 metres) of high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs at Payara. It said that the area was safely drilled to 18,080 feet (5,512 meters) in 6,660 feet (2,030 metres) of water” (Solomon, 2017).

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So the plans of drilling are set and the anticipated waste is happening as well. That Exxon Mobile will make a killing on these fields in pure and true. The massive reserves will surely make the government of Guyana happy as they even got settled who owned the waters between them and Venezuela.

There are so many more things to come as the proof of the environmental problems and the financial implications is also coming to the forefront with the different values in 2016 and 2017. Exxon Mobile has been hands on and used all means, even foreseen the implications of their activity in Guyana, as they we’re even embedded with the government before the drilling and before the settlement and lawful judgement on who could licence the sea and offshore areas was put in order. Even decades before and therefore the problems with Venezuela and Surinam over who owns it, shows the true levels of planning that the Oil Corporations does. That the Exxon Mobile leadership does what it takes to get giant petroleum reserves. Like the Standard Oil did in the past, so does it future clone Exxon.

We can just follow and wonder what this will lead too and what sort of ways the state can get the funds and resources into the consolidation funds, not to speak of in use for the citizens of Guyana. Not only the elite and the central leadership as so many petro-dollars have ended at. Let’s hope that the Guyana Republic and their leadership can sustain the offshore adventure and also give it back to its citizens. Peace.

Reference:

Esso Exploration and Production Limited Project – ‘SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION TO THE APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION FOR EEPGL’S LIZA PHASE 1 DEVELOPMENT, STABROEK LICENSE AREA, OFFSHORE GUYANA’ (8/2/2016) “ESSO EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION GUYANA LTD”

Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd – ‘PROJECT SUMMARY FOR LIZA PHASE 1 DEVELOPMENT, STABROEK LICENSE AREA, OFFSHORE GUYANA’ (January 2017)

Memorial of Guyana – ‘Exxon signs PSC for Deepwater Acreage off Guyana; Adds to Global Deepwater Portfolio’ (14.06.1999).

Guyana: ‘THE PETROLEUM (EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION) ACT – IN EXERCISE OF THE POWER CONFERRED UPON ME BY SECTION 51 OF THE PETROLEUM (EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION) ACT, I MAKE THE FOLLOWING ORDER’ No. 10 of 2016 (2^nd August 2016).

Solomon, Alva – ‘Oil Brief –Exxon briefs Gov’t, Opposition on preparations for oil production’ (01.02.2017) link: https://guyanachronicle.com/2017/02/01/oil-brief-exxon-briefs-govt-opposition-on-preparations-for-oil-production

Wilkinson, Bert – ‘Tillerson scrubs Guyana visit’ (15.12.2016) link: http://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/stories/2016/12/2016-12-16-bw-tillerson-trump-pick-cancels-guyana-visit-cl.html

Guyana-Norway Cooperation on the deforestation, the Low-Carbon Development-Strategy(LCDS) and REDD+ Program in Guyana

Today is the day after we have celebrated our Constitutional Day here in Norway. This is the day after the giant national party. Last week it just happened to be an election in the small South-American state Guyana which is in-between Surinam and Venezuela. As the Corruption Perception Index shows the magnificent position that Guyana in the world that there in the place of number 124 of 175 countries. Here is the chart from Transparency International:

To follow the story, I have looked for sources and how it has gone. This I had to do after reading Chris Lang’s report ‘Why did Norway agree to pay US$40 million just before Guyana’s election?’. That he published on the internet page red-monitor.org. As a Norwegian I haven’t really heard anything about the election or the funding of the rainforest projects in Guyana. We have seen our development minister Erik Solheim travelling to Brazil and looking at the crazy animals and green trees in the rainforest. So I had to check what has been said. Here is what I have found. And hope it’s worth five minutes of your day.

The now former president of the Republic of Guyana H. E. Donald Ramotar on the 5^th payment on the 7^th of May 2015 stated this: “Fellow Guyanese, I am pleased to announce today that Guyana has received a payment of $8 billion (Guyana) from the Government of Norway. This is a billion more than last year’s payment, and brings the total received from Norway to $38 billion” (…) ”All Guyanese should feel proud of the vote in confidence expressed by Norway in announcing that they are willing to pursue a second agreement up to 2020, a policy that only the PPP/C supports in Guyana. And all Guyanese should feel proud that we have earned the most money from a forest partnership in the world, after Brazil. Money that is being directly spent on the people” (…) ”the LCDS has done a lot. Guyana has now deployed US$120 million into projects, which are enabling the rehabilitation of Cunha canal that will protect Georgetown, and the communities and farms along the Mahaica River from floods like we saw back in 2005” (…) ”First, the opposition tried to stop Norway from paying Guyana the money that we earned from keeping our forests standing. When the opposition failed to achieve this, they tried to stop us from spending this hard earned money on the Guyanese people by cutting the entire LCDS budget!” (…) ”we have always been fighting to protect our nature so that we can leave an even more beautiful Guyana as a legacy to our children – and today we are leading the world in showing how finances can flow to forest countries. Guyana was once known for rigged elections and economic decay – today we are known for global environmental leadership. The benefits are for all our people, and we must not throw them away”.

On the 8^th May “The Government of Guyana this morning announced the receipt of US$40 million from the Government of Norway for maintaining low deforestation rates and improving forest governance” (PRNewswire).

To the Antigua Observerer President Ramotar is quoted on the agreement with Norway: “(This is) a policy that only the PPP/C (People’s Progressive Party/Civic) supports in Guyana. And all Guyanese should feel proud that we have earned the most money from a forest partnership in the world, after Brazil, money that is being directly spent on the people.” (…) “believe that not a single Guyanese living on the coast should need to worry when there’s heavy rainfall that their community will flood. And not a single Guyanese in the hinterland should need to worry about not having water during droughts. Nor should any Amerindian community need to worry about having enough economic opportunities to support their development.” (…) “Today, Guyana is one of the leading countries in the world in managing natural resources sustainably. And every Guyanese is benefitting from this. Our most recent deforestation rate was even lower than the previous year.” (…) “All Guyanese should feel proud of the vote in confidence expressed by Norway.” (…) ““I urge every Guyanese to think hard about what is at stake and to make the best decision next Monday to continue down a path of development and progress,” (Antigua Observerer).

On the 12^th May reports was saying: “Guyana has received $40 million for climate services and intends to use part of the money for a transformational hydroelectric project in order to reduce the cost of electricity” (…) “The payment was made by the Government of Norway and represents earnings from the Guyana-Norway partnership which in total now amount s to $190 million out of a potential $250 million” (Caribbean News Service).

On the 16^th May this new has arrived: “HIS Excellency, Brigadier (rtd) David Arthur Granger, is Guyana’s duly elected and sworn 8th Executive President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Head of State of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. President Granger was administered the Oath of Office yesterday at the Public Buildings by Chancellor of the Judiciary, Carl Singh, in the presence of the thousands that converged to witness history. The Oath was administered following the reading of the Official Proclamation by Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally” (…) “The official Inauguration Ceremony for the new Government is slated for May 26, at the Guyana National Stadium, and as had been promised by then coalition presidential candidate, Brigadier (rtd) Granger, Guyanese will celebrate the nation’s 50th Independence Anniversary from its colonial masters, under an APNU+AFC Government of National Unity” (Eleazar).

Newly elected David Arthur Granger said on the inauguration: “I extend the arm of friendship to former president, Donald Ramotar, and the members of the PPP to join this great movement of national unity.” (…) ”let us embrace each other regardless of religion, regardless of race, regardless of class, regardless of occupation…as fellow Guyanese let us work together to realise our inspiring national motto, One People, One Nation, One Destiny” (…) ”Guyanese, the elections are over, the people have chosen their representatives, the Constitution has been respected, our democracy has been fortified, let us now put past rivalries behind us and work in unity to banish poverty, ignorance, fear and hatred” (Eleazar).

Tweedie of the Morning Star tells the story of how close the election in Guyana really was: “GUYANA’S ruling party has alleged fraud in the general election, with just 43 votes separating the two main presidential candidate” (…) “It claimed that the opposition Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) received almost twice as many votes as there were voters in some regions” (…) “The PPP also expressed concern over the “extremely high” number of rejected ballots and accused the APNU of intimidating its representatives and chasing them away from polling stations” (…) “And the APNU declared victory for its candidate David Granger on Tuesday, long before the vote was complete” (Tweedie).

Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran has commented: “No longer motivated by his high ideals, it (the PPP/C) allowed one-man rule, arrogance, crime, corruption, nepotism and high living to flourish and become dominant features of its governance” (…) “Ramkarran said that the PPP/C ignored the fact that it lost a significant percent of its support at elections held in 2011. “It deluded itself by a self-serving analysis that apathy caused its supporters to stay away from the polls in 2011. This prompted an expectation that elections with a divisive political strategy will restore its majority. Thus it rejected any idea of a coalition government.”(Rockecliffe).

Afterthought:

If this isn’t getting your minds to think and I understand the thoughts of Chris Lang and Redd Monitor. I am just thinking. What is the real measure of the money spent into the saving of the rainforest? How will this sizeable funding scheme really be governed? We now can read reports of possible election frauds in Guyana, also considering the number and place of the country considering their position as the 124 of 175. There are expected that the former President will be happy for the agreement between Norway and Guyana. This is the 6^th Payment and also building a Hydroelectric plant in Guyana for 40$B. If this doesn’t make your mind boggle a bit and how this doesn’t seem right. I get worried when the politicians and campaign talks about this funding of deforestation. If you don’t mind I will snip out the most questionable quotes from the ‘Joint Concept Note’ that both government agreed on 6^th May 2015. Also the letter from Guyana Forestry Commission from 13. Januar 2015. Hope you enjoy! Peace.