The Ministry of Natural Resources responds to the latest inaccuracies and misrepresentations from the opposition media outlet, Kaieteur News.
The newspaper’s lead article on September 3, 2024, titled “Guyana in the Dark on How Much Oil is Being Deducted by Exxon for Its Operations – Int’l Lawyer Says Matter is of Serious Concern,” quotes Melinda Janki as stating, “The Petroleum Agreement says that Exxon, Hess and CNOOC can take as much oil as they need for the operations.”
This statement represents a clear and unfortunate distortion of the facts. Article 11.9 of the Petroleum Agreement specifies, “The Contractor shall have the right to use in any Petroleum Operations as much of the production as may reasonably be required by it therefor and the quantities so used or lost shall be excluded from any calculations of Cost Oil and/or Cost Gas and Profit Oil and/or Profit Gas entitlement.” These provisions are consistent with international best practices and transparency standards.
It is well-known that crude oil extracted by ExxonMobil offshore Guyana cannot be used in its raw form as fuel; it must be refined into usable products. Since there are no refining operations in Guyana, the crude oil is exported to international markets for refining into various petroleum products.
The term “production” used in the Agreement refers not to crude oil but to natural gas. Most of the natural gas extracted offshore is reinjected, while a portion is processed to remove impurities and can then be used as fuel.
Kaieteur News itself provides a partial answer to its misinformation within the article by noting that the Ministry of Natural Resources Petroleum Management Programme data “provides an overview of gas injected, flared, and used for fuel.” The government remains committed to transparency and accessibility regarding sector information.
This data, which covers the entire history of offshore oil production, is openly reported on the Data Centre and can be accessed here: https://petroleum.gov.gy/data-visualization?tid=206
The fact that Kaieteur News’ article fails to acknowledge the facts it presents highlights fundamental misunderstandings of the oil and gas industry. It also reflects a lack of scrutiny applied to the claims of its commentators, whose primary criterion appears to be portraying the Government of Guyana in a negative light.
The Ministry urges readers to reject these agenda-driven misrepresentations and seek the truth from Kaieteur News. Should there be any confusion about the publicly available data, the Ministry is prepared to offer context and clarification. The Ministry will continue to ensure the public is informed about improvements to its monitoring and regulatory capabilities in the petroleum sector and remains a transparent, accessible, and responsible steward of Guyana’s oil and gas industry.