Guyana Oil & Gas - The new Department of Energy
The current set-up or approach for the new Department of Energy (DoE) does differ from what was in the original plan but some deviations are to be expected. As new people are brought in and time evolves, plans and ideas will change. But I see some troubling signs:
1. The DoE has yet to hire the teams of O&G professionals who have decades of experience with the "major" oil companies. And I stress "major" oil companies, which are Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP, etc. We should not hire people from the smaller companies, at least not now. We need people who have not been exposed ethically. The major companies try to be squeaky clean but some of the small companies can be cowboys. And the major oil companies have a lot of processes to protect themselves, but this is less so in the the smaller companies. Hence I would be more comfortable hiring a commercial manager or technical manager from Shell or Exxon, than from a minnow company like Maersk.
2. In transferring responsibility from MNR to the new DoE, we have to be careful about some of the key people in MNR who are brought over to the DoE. We have to remember that many unacceptable things occurred in the MNR. There was no progress for three years which benefited ExxonMobil and not Guyana, and the Kaieteur and Canje blocks where fraudulently awarded, which also benefited ExxonMobil. Hence there were people in MNR who should have been kept away from the new DoE, but I worry that some of these individuals have not been kept away.
3. The DoE took the incorrect position on a number of very important issues, and sometimes only altered their stance after much pestering from myself and others like Chris Ram.
3a. The DoE should have championed the need for cost reviews and audits, but initially they did not. And now it seems the cost review will be a stitch-up or just a farce, with the hiring of BayPhase.
3b. The DoE should have championed the need for transparent open competitive auctions, but initially they were on the fence.
3c. The DoE should be championing the need for a re-negotiation of the contract for Stabroek Block, but they are not and are instead wasting time talking about future blocks when all the value for Guyana may be in the Stabroek Block.
3d. The DoE should be spearheading a move to rescind the awards of the Kaieteur and Canje Blocks, but instead we have seen nothing.
3e. The DoE was meant to be a showcase of how the new government should function for the benefit of the people. It was meant to be a pinnacle to which other government bodies could aspire. It was meant to be an emblem of efficient and impactful public service. It needed to have the best people from Guyana, from the diaspora and from around the world. Its operations needed to be transparent, with data and information published on its website, with plans and strategies published on its website, with the profiles of its employees published on its website, with minuets of meetings published, with procurement processes published and transparently tracked, etc. The state of public services in Guyana is currently unacceptable, and the DoE was meant to be a beacon.
There is still an opportunity for the DoE to improve as it grows, but a number of initial signs have been discouraging.
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