Appearing before the UN Human Rights Committee again today, Minister of Governance, Gail Teixeira responded to questions surrounding allegations of corruption in the signing of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement between the Exxon Mobil company and the Government that was in place at that time.

She was asked by one of the UN Human Rights Committee Members whether an investigation had been carried out into allegations of corruption involving Exxon and the granting of the 2016 oil production license.

In response, Minister Teixeira pointed to a lack of evidence and proof to move ahead with any such probe.

She said “The question was asked on the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement that was signed and secretly signed, there has been no investigation between 2016 and 2020 of that and none from then to now. There may be many concerns that people have, and may even be convinced that there was some sort of cozy relationship. However, there is no proof or evidence that we can move forward on this”.

There have been widespread calls for a review and or withdrawal of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement signed under the former APNU+AFC Government.

While the current Government had also raised concerns about the PSA during its time in Opposition, it has pointed to the need to respect the sanctity of contracts.

There has been no move to amend the 2016 agreement, however, the Government has updated the agreement for future oil contracts.

During the UN Human Rights hearing, the Governance Minister was also quizzed about the role of the Environmental Protection Agency in relation to its oversight of the oil and gas sector and its independence. Teixeira defended the EPA and noted its work over the years in the oil and gas sector and even its work on addressing flaring concerns by Exxon.

Guyana started oil production in 2019.

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