Yesterday Global Witness said that it is withdrawing its report “In a statement, the London, UK-based Global Witness said that its February 3rd, 2020 report on Guyana’s oil sector, `Signed Away’, is not consistent with its heightened focus on climate change and it had therefore decided to remove it from its website and stop using it in its campaigning work.”
(https://www.stabroeknews.com/2021/01/11/news/guyana/global-witness-withdraws-report-on-exxon-deal/ Stabroek News, 11 Jan 2021.)
My first question is this. Did Global Witness not know that its main focus was always environmental issues dealing especially with resources of which oil is the most important? Here is a quote from yesterday’s papers by Global Witness. “It added that since its founding in 1993 it has sought to end the environmental destruction that harms so many people around the world – holding the powerful to account while advocating for people who have lost their livelihoods or lives.” I knew that. My conclusion is that I know more about Global Witness than it knows about itself or that Global Witness is a conniving entity who conspired with the PPP and other unknowns to weaken the Granger administration. The main objective being removal by any means. The intellectual authors are none other than those who were occupying the white house at that time.
Global Witness went on to say “Moreover, since publication, oil prices have dropped by more than a third. As COVID-19 continues to depress demand for fossil fuels and as countries implement policies to restrict the use of fossil fuels in order to tackle climate change, the prospects for sustainable income generation from new oil projects are increasingly questionable. “These factors led us to overestimate the potential economic benefit of oil extraction.”
Now, Global Witness thinks that people from the Third World are stupid. I wrote during the whole frenzy of the PPP supporters that the Global Witness analysis was wrong. The main thing I contended was that $65 US per barrel was not in line with the realities. I put forward that the $55 billion US was someone’s strange dream. The tabloids in Guyana refused to publish my comments that refuted Global Witness’s thesis. The newspapers only allowed comments by people who had not one ounce of knowledge but who supported that nonsense. Global Witness knew that Granger was considered an environmental president. Yet, they deliberately published nonsense that would make him appear to have given away Guyana’s patrimony. They knew what they were doing. They were setting the stage for the ouster of Granger. I do not know for whom they were working but I can tell you who benefited from a “weakened” Granger. The PPP, Trump, and Pompeo. A president who gives away the people’s patrimony can be easily rigged out of his position.
Now, Global Witness is supposed to be this great organization with exceptional expertise and credibility according to the Guyana tabloids. That is what I read over and over in the Guyana newspaper. Yet, they could not see that oil has already peaked. It did not take the pandemic to create the peak. It just made it clearer that the peak has passed. Look, the oil companies are leaving dirty oil in the ground. It is no longer profitable to produce from those wells. If you do not believe ask Tallow. Tullow taking writedown on Guyana oil finds after disappointing results (Stabroek News, January 16, 2020, Jan 12, 2021)
I will now list some of the publications that perpetuated this lie. The most dishonest is Kaieteur news that said that it looked at 130 PSAs and found Guyana’s at the bottom. That is so barefaced that I wonder what are they getting for that? I looked at the PSAs also and Found that Guyana’s is halfway from the top. Here is a report by Oil Now. “Analysts say ExxonMobil PSA in line with frontier countries worldwide By Oil NOW April 17, 2018. (https://oilnow.gy/featured/analysts-say-exxonmobil-psa-line-frontier-countries-worldwide/ Jan 12, 2021)
(Apr. 17,2018, Jan 12, 2021)
“As the debate continues in the South American country of Guyana on the fiscal terms outlined in the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with US oil major ExxonMobil, UK-based Wood Mackenzie and Norwegian headquartered research company Rystad Energy say the agreement is in line with frontier countries around the world.
In the current fiscal regime, the government collects its share through a 2% royalty and a 50% profit oil levy. Rystad Energy estimates that this will give the government 60% of the profit from the various projects (government take), while the remaining 40% will go to international E&P companies.
“On average, the government take for all offshore projects is around 75%, while rates in major producing countries such as Nigeria, Norway, Mexico, Indonesia, and Trinidad are all above 80%. However, if we examine countries that only recently opened up for E&P activities – such as the Falkland Islands, Israel, Mozambique, and Mauritania – we see that the government take is in the range of 45% to 70%,” Rystad said in an April 12, 2018 report.” Now, Is Kaieteur News a newspaper or some lying rag for the PPP. Anyone can check and see that they did not compare 130 PSAs. The list of some of the lying reports follows.
- This oil contract is a giveaway of Guyana’s precious resources Dec 31, 2019, Kaieteur News.
- Accepting pennies for our US multibillion-dollar prize Aug 25, 2019, Kaieteur News,
- Guyana through incompetence and negligence failed to negotiate a signing bonus of USD 1 billion Oct 14, 2019, Kaieteur News,
4) Guyana stands to lose US$55b in bad oil deal
-Global Witness tells ExxonMobil in letter Stabroek News (https://www.stabroeknews.com/2020/01/31/news/guyana/guyana-stands-to-lose-us55b-in-bad-oil-deal/ Jan 31, 2020, Jan 12, 2021)
January 31, 2020
Now, here is one comment that was not published by Stabroek News. There are many.
Read this: Exxon got 85% profit and Russia 15% because Russia was not capable of developing the oil on Sakhalin Island. Now, compared that with 2% royalty and 50% profit for Guyana. January 31, 2020”
There is also a blog on Guyana’s oil PSA with regards to the PPP signing Payara license. It states” Now, the installed government did not change a thing. The voices are quiet. Why do I say that? The comment sections had hundreds of comments calling the then government inept, stupid, backward, and corrupt. Now, if that was the truth, then this government is also inept, corrupt, and backward. I have seen little if any news items about this.
The newspapers wanted the previous government to be Gods. I have news for them. Men are not gods. They however let fraudulent degree holders and fraudulent results stand. There is a certain “columnist” who constantly quotes dead philosophers and thinks that fraudulent degrees are okay once you use them to obtain a higher degree. I remember him writing ”1%, 2% how inept are these people?” Where is his outrage? There is none because he shows a great hatred for the previous government which never harmed him nor threw feces on him.
It is really surprising to me that the majority of talking heads that called the APNU/AFC incompetent are quiet. It is disgusting that the new government just ate its words. When Global Witness stated that the previous government left $55 Billion US, all hell broke loose. The daily rags that call themselves newspapers were all feral in their responses.
I think that some people are born and bred with hatred, especially for race and caste. I close by stating what I always said. The PSA was fair given Guyana’s position as a frontier country at the time. Guyana’s position as a frontier country has now changed so the new PSAs will be better financially. Greedy people, people who love money than they love their parents were hollering the most. I say people who kill their parents for money. Those are the ones who hollered the loudest. I hope that the people who were very vocal during the elections will not be quiet when the petition starts.” (https://guyanabana.com/?p=93, 28 Sept. 2020, 12 Jan. 2021)
In conclusion, Global Witness needs to come clean. They should say who engineered that report. We know the reasons, but we need to know all the intellectual authors. The first act was to oust Granger. The second act was to control Guyana’s foreign policy. The third act was to have no changes to the oil PSA. These were achieved. Let me be clear. I think that the PSA is fair for a frontier country. Surely, Guyana could get more but you do not bait and switch. It is illegal and unethical. Then there is the 4th act which Global Witness and the cabal to which it belongs seem to forget. It is called the election petition.