Oil production licenses remain secret, five months later
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
Kaieteur News – Irfaan Ali’s administration has not issued all oil development production licenses issued to ExxonMobil, despite Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, committed to do so five months ago, on October 2, 2020.
Notably, Jagdeo encouraged media executives to read all of the licenses, so they could verify his claim that the Payara licenses from the current administration exceed the licenses issued by David Granger’s administration for Stages One and Two Liza.
“So look at the petroleum license for Liza signed by Trotman, and compare it to the petroleum license for Payara we signed,” he said during the press conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Center, “and there, you will see the huge improvements and how we have moved to defend our patriotism. ”
Dr. Jagdeo also said the improvements were there to ensure that the Payara development would be implemented in an environmentally safer manner, among other critical considerations.
When informed that the media had not received these documents, the Vice President stated that he would ensure that they did.
To date, Kaieteur News has the environmental permits for Stages One and Two Liza, and Payara. This newspaper also has the Payara production license released by the Ali administration when it announced the approval, last September.
Kaieteur News understands that the Vice President must give subordinates the approval to release the remaining documents.
The Government rode into office on one promise, among many, that it would be more transparent than the administration before it.
The Granger government did not release the production permits for Liza Phases One and Two projects, which together allow ExxonMobil to dispose of over a billion oil-equivalent barrels.
It had released a Stabroek block production (PSA) share license, and had come under sharp criticism for the low-industry revenue share and other bad terms.