The Government has shut down calls by the Opposition and Civil Society groups for consultations on the draft model Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) to be extended. The Vice President said there will be no extension on the consultations.

When it made the draft PSAs for both the deepwater and shallow-water blocks public last March, the Government initiated a two-week consultative process. But since then, there have been calls for the process to be extended.

The Vice President said the Government is ready to move ahead.

“It is a five years issue, we have been at it, over five years we have had a debate on this, what needs to be adjusted. So, I think it is just another one of those things where people call for more time, that they really don’t want to put in the technical effort and the work,” the Vice President told reporters on the sideline of the Local Content Summit.

Noting that the Government has received “quite a few comments from a large number of people,” the Vice President said the Administration will be moving the process forward.

However, he said should the Government receive additional recommendations, those recommendations will be considered as well.

“But frankly speaking, if somebody sends in a comment as we are finalizing, we are not going to ignore it totally and it makes sense, although the period has expired,” he explained.

The main opposition – the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) has called for the draft PSAs to be placed before the National Assembly for a thorough review by a Parliamentary Select Committee.

The opposition argued that the consultative period was insufficient, and it was virtually impossible to consult a wide cross section of the Guyanese people in two weeks due to the country’s size, geography and limited infrastructure.

It accused the Government of developing a pattern of rushing documents and decisions.

Under the proposed PSAs, operators in the Deepwater and Shallow water Offshore Blocks, upon being issued their Petroleum Prospecting Licence and or Petroleum Production Licence, would be required to submit their Work Programmes and Budgets for approval by a Minister, who holds responsibility for the Petroleum Sector.

Additionally, in the model PSAs, the Government proposed that the royalty on all petroleum produced and sold by the contractor be increased from 2%, as embedded in the Stabroek Block PSA, to 10%. 

The balance of the Crude Oil and or Natural Gas will be shared equally, with the Government receiving 50% and the contractor the remaining 50%. However, the actual royalty and profit receive by the Government will be dependent on the price of the crude oil.

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