The Government of Guyana is maintaining that the exploration licence for the Corentyne Block has expired, and that there is nothing legally that can be done at this stage. This position was reiterated on Tuesday by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat at his ministry’s press conference.
“With regards to CGX, the position remains the same. There’s no change to the position, with regards to how we are dealing or handling the CGX matter, the expiration license like any other company, would have expired,” he said.
Last month it was disclosed that GX Energy Inc. and its joint venture partner, Frontera Energy Guyana Corp. have written to the government initiating a 60-day negotiation period as outlined in the Corentyne Block Petroleum Agreement to resolve any disputes amicably. However, Minister Bharrat said, “There is no dispute, that’s the first thing, there is no dispute between the government and CGX.” 
While the joint-venture had reaffirmed their commitment to developing the Kawa-1 and Wei-1 discoveries in the Corentyne Block, and emphasized their belief that the Petroleum Agreement for the Corentyne Block remains valid – the government has maintained that the licence has expired.
The companies had stated that constructive communications with the government ended without them receiving any formal notification about the status of the licence. CGX had said too that statements by the government regarding the status of the license, “have materially affected the JV and caused substantial harm to the JV’s efforts to develop the Corentyne Block.”
For his part, Minister Bharrat underscored that CGX was not treated unfairly or differently from any other company regarding the expiration of an exploration license.
He stated that even before the license expired the government had engagements with the JV notifying them of the government’s position when the license comes to an end. He said, “But there were engagements then…we met with them, we had an engagement with them then and they understood fully the position of our government because there is no way legally that you can extend beyond the appraisal period.”
Minister Bharrat reminded that in CGX’s case, “We have given them extra time for appraisal, because once the law also states that once with the discovery and that they notify us with the notice of discovery, of which they belief can lead to commerciality, then we need to give them additional time for appraisal or appraisal program which we did.”
He explained that at the end of the licence CGX was supposed to be ready to move to production, but unfortunately they were not in that position. “So there is nothing legally, there is nothing legally that we can do with regards to any further extension or that matter,” the minister said.
However, he suggested that CGX reapply or wait until there is another bid round, and bid for the Corentyne Block – if it’s available.
