While the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has initiated steps towards ensuring the oil and gas resources are properly managed and expended, Parliamentarian, Sanjeev Datadin was keen to remind members of the House today, of the appalling economic impacts of having the sector led by the APNU+AFC regime.
During his contributions to the Budget 2020 debate today, the Attorney-at-Law pointed to the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) that was revised in 2016 and signed by the political opposition. One of the most reprehensible provisions Datadin pointed to was the Stabilization clause. The lawyer said, “This is a clause that says in effect, whatever Exxon is making in profit can never change. We can change the law, regulations, the Constitution … (but) nothing will change it (Exxon’s profits). If we change the law and they make less profit, we have to compensate them for the loss. How could we give away the patrimony of the country like this?”
Datadin was also keen to remind of the damning Global Witness report called Signed Away which exposed that the lopsided deal left US$55M on the table. Datadin noted that this is approximately $15M per person.
Further to this, tThe Parliamentarian heavily criticized former Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman for placing the nation in such a disadvantageous position while adding that more could have been obtained from the deal if he had only been patient enough to wait and review imminent information on well-known discoveries in the Stabroek Block.
He also chided Trotman and his other associates in the opposition camp for collecting an US$18M signing bonus following the discovery of the national resource. Datadin said it is pitiful to think that sportsmen around the world would receive larger signing bonuses. With the foregoing in mind, Datadin alluded to the fact that the Government has an enormous task to rebuild the industry and steer it onto the path of success.
