President of the Transparency Institute Guyana Inc., Frederick Collins

the right websites on the Brazilian market and you canseethepriceeverysingle day so nobody can say (or) theorize that well they are not getting all the price that youaresellingitfor Itisthe public domain we are seeing a lot of antics and so onbutifweweretocompare with what obtains just next door with Brazil we would realize that we are so far away,” the TIGI head argued.

The International SecretariatfortheExtractive Industries Transparency Initiative had called on Guyana to make the contracts public for the country’sshareofprofitoil.

In November 2022, the Government of Guyana (GoG) awarded a one year contract to BP International Limited, a subsidiary of BritishPetroleum,tomarket Guyana’s share of profit oil from the Liza Destiny and Liza Unity Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. The firm beat 13 others duringthetenderingprocess to win the contract. BP and one other Chinese firm had submittedbidstomarketthe country’soilatnoexpenseto thegovernment.

As the successful candidate, BP International will be responsible for providing all functions of marketing, assessing regional and global demand centres, selecting customers and making appropriate t r a n s p o r t a t i o n arrangements, providing support and guidance to the client in all operating and back-office responsibilities of managing these crude sales.Itwillalsobeexpected to facilitate timely and cost efficient crude oil operations; and support the client in the continued introduction of the grade to multiple geographies and refinerysystems.

In addition to the foregoing, the Ministry of Natural Resources said BP will also be required to provide benchmark performancecomparisonsof prices paid for the client’s crudewhileworkingclosely with the client in understandingthebehaviour and yields of the Liza blend andhowtheseaffectpricing differentials.

After pressure was mounted by the Opposition for the contract to BP to be made public, the Natural ResourcesMinistryreleased an unsigned contract for the sale of the country’s oil in December

The unsigned document states that the Service Provider “shall not accept for their own benefit any trade commission, discount, or similar payment in connection with activities pursuant to the performance of this Contract or to the Services or in the discharge oftheirobligationsunderthe Contract, and the Service Provider shall use their best efforts to ensure that the Service Provider’s Personnel, any Subcontractor, and agents of eitherofthemsimilarlyshall not receive any such additionalremuneration.”

Further to that, the document which has since been removed from the Minsitry’s website stated, “TheServiceProviderhasan obligation and shall ensure thatitsServiceProvider’s Continuedonpage8

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