Hess Corp. is a marketer for Guyana’s 4th oil lift
By Kiana Wilburg
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Guyana’s fourth lift of approximately one million barrels of Liza’s sweet, light crude was marketed by Hess International Sales LLC and sold to BP Oil Supply, a division of BP Products North America. Confirming tonight last night was the Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
On the procurement process that led to the selection of Stabroek Block partner Hess Corporation as the raw marketer, Dr. Jagdeo would address this at a press conference, which he intends to hold in the first week. from January 2021.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Gobind Ganga, said the country is expected to receive US $ 49.3M next week for the sale of the fourth lift. He told this newspaper that this amount will take the total revenue in the Natural Resources Fund which also holds royalties from the Liza Phase One Project, to around US $ 198M.
Guyana’s first three cargoes of approximately one million barrels of oil were sold to Shell Western Supply and Trading. The first cargo was sold on February 19, 2020, raking in nearly US $ 55M. The second lift brought in US $ 35M while the third brought in US $ 46M.
One resource watchdog that is expected to provide information on oil sales agreements promptly for public scrutiny is the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GY-EITI).
Following several checks on the local chapter’s website, no independent information was published on the Government’s agreement with a new oil marketer, Hess Corporation or even for Shell Western Supply and Trading.
Requirement 4.2 of the EITI Standard to which Guyana is expected to adhere specifies: “Where the sale of the State’s share of the production of oil, gas and / or mineral resources or other revenue collected in kind applies, the government , including state- owned enterprises are required to disclose the volumes received and sold by the state (or state-appointed third parties for sale on their behalf), revenues and receipts from the sale, and revenue transferred to the state from sales of oil, gas and mineral sales. Where applicable, this should include payments (in cash or in kind) associated with exchange agreements and resource backed loans. “
The Standard goes on to state that: “The published data must be disaggregated by a single purchasing company and to levels commensurate with reporting of other payments and revenue streams (4.7). Multi-stakeholder groups, in consultation with purchasing companies, are expected to consider whether disclosures should be disclosed by individual sale, product type and price. ”(SEE LINK FOR MORE DETAILS: https://eiti.org/document/eiti-standard-2019#r4-2)
Unfortunately, efforts to reach the Head of GY-EITI, Dr. Rudy Jadoopat regarding the fact that GY-EITI has yet to announce the sale agreements for any of the fourth lifts.