Even though the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Administration took the decision to scrap the first list of bidders to market Guyana’s crude, key business intelligence firms in the industry are of the view that there is still enough time for the nation to seek out a new trader as its next oil lift is due in November. Specifically making this point was Argus Media, one of the oil industry’s trusted providers of business and data intelligence.
In its latest crude report that focused on Guyana’s production, the consultancy group noted that according to its information, it understands that Guyana will select a new crude marketer by October. The UK firm said, “This is in time…and gives the marketer time to market its next oil lift, which is going to happen in November. So, this will be the fourth oil lift by the Guyanese government from their production sharing. The previous government had actually awarded the first three of its entitlements to Shell in a restricted tender.”
It added, “All those parcels have loaded, so this is going to be the first cargo since then that’s going to be offered into the market.”
With respect to concerns about how the change of government would affect future oil production and current levels, Argus noted that current production is unlikely to be disturbed. It noted however that the same cannot be said for future production or future investment in Guyana in general. In this regard, Argus pointed out that the new government has said that it plans to increase royalties of production sharing contracts because it thinks that those agreed upon by the previous government were unfair and that Guyana and its people are not getting a big enough slice of the pie. The industry will simply have to keep a close eye on how the government deals with these and other issues Argus noted.
