Former President Donald Ramotar is maintaining that the award of the Kaieteur and Canje oil blocks to Ratio Guyana and Mid-Atlantic, respectively, a few days before the 2015 elections were held was aboveboard. Be that as it may, the PPP Member said he still welcomes a probe of the matter as he insists that the party has nothing to hide.
Ramotar’s statements come on the heels of a probe that was launched by the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) into the matter.
The former president said that he has no faith in SARA’s ability to conduct an impartial investigation. In a statement to the media he said, “No Guyanese can expect a non-partisan investigation by SARA.”
Further to this, Ramotar sought to explain the sequence of events involving the application and approval of the licences. He said that the applications by companies for exploration in the Kaieteur and Canje Blocks date back to 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Ramotar asserted that both applications were processed and approved by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations around late 2013. He said that all fees paid were fixed by law and were paid to the GGMC, not to any private accounts.
The former Head of State said that dates of signing and sequence of subsequent discoveries are all in the public domain and were published in the Official Gazette for the public’s information. There was full transparency on this, he noted.
As it relates to delays in the signing of the agreements, Ramotar explained that these were due to matters surrounding Venezuela’s navy seizure of Anandarko contracted seismic vessel Technic Pardana in late 2013. At the time of application, processing, approval, and signing of the Petroleum Prospecting Licenses for the Kaieteur and Canje blocks, Ramotar insisted that there was no confirmed commercial petroleum discovery in the area by ExxonMobil or any other company.
In light of the aforementioned, he categorically stated that the probe by SARA is a political manoeuvre to divert attention from the government’s inept management of the developing oil and gas sector.
