Government still in talks over Payara FDP

The Government of Guyana continues to engage ExxonMobil on its third development project offshore Guyana, the Payara prospect.

During a media briefing on Monday afternoon at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Hon. Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, disclosed that negotiations with the US oil giant are ongoing, as there are a number of issues which still need to be resolved.

“We have differences and I do not want telegraph what maybe our final position…. We see this as a continuum. Exxon is not going to disappear tomorrow. The Payara license is not the only opportunity we have to get what the president said we wanted which is an industry which benefits the investor only, but significantly and directly benefits Guyanese, our people through jobs, business opportunities etc.,” Vice President Jagdeo said.

He added that the Government’s position on local content was very clear.

“We have to talk also about training opportunities. We made it clear that ExxonMobil has to do more for training of Guyanese.”

The Vice President told the media that the Payara prospect will not determine future relations, negotiations and opportunities explaining that “there will be one when we come to talk about local content and local content legislation. There’ll be another negotiating opportunity when we talk about gas and the development of out gas fields and the price for gas and how much of it comes on shore and how it will benefit our people.”

His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana earlier during the press conference stated that “we have to ensure in the review we get more for local content which is important for our development… it is critical we create the path to ensure we get this in the fastest possible way.”

The US oil giant had submitted the Payara FDP in September 2019, and has been awaiting approval since December 2019, after the former APNU+AFC Coalition Administration would have reviewed it. The present Government has hired a consultant to review the development plan.