With the view that Guyana needs foreign investors to help develop the country, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday agreed with moves to appeal the High Court ruling that ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure ExxonMobil issues an unlimited insurance guarantee for its operations in the Stabroek block.
Dr. Jagdeo contended that investors must be assured of predictable policies when they invest in Guyana and reasoned that the recent ruling may be antithetical to that.
“It’s important that institutions act in that manner- in a professional manner- because we are attracting large volumes of capital from around the world and what could have passed in the past as some sort of nationalism or economic nationalism will not hold water in the new dispensation,” Dr. Jagdeo said at a party press conference on Thursday.
He also said the country would be threading in “murky waters” if a statutory agency (the EPA) is directed on how to do its job because it gives the impression that the agency is not working.
And Jagdeo believes the EPA has been diligently striving to protect Guayan’s environmental sector, particularly as the country welcomes new oil and gas activities.
On Wednesday, High Court Judge, Sandil Kissoon ruled that EcconMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) should provide unlimited insurance for its operations in the Stabroek Block.
And if the company is unable to offer those unlimited financial assurance, then its parent company (ExxonMobil) must provide an unlimited parent guarantee to cater for any adverse events such as an oil spill.
If no such guarantee is in place to indemnify the State, then it was noted that the State is liable for all that occurs.
The Attorney General’s Chambers, in a statement for the EPA and the Government of Guyana, said it was their “considered view that the Environmental Permit imposes no obligation on the Permit Holder to provide an unlimited Parent Company Guarantee Agreement and/or Affiliate Company Guarantee Agreement.”
They held that the judge “fell into error in his findings” and said “the ruling can have profound ramifications and grave economic and other impacts on the public interest and national development.”
“As a result, the decision of the Learned Judge will be appealed and orders will be sought to stay its effect until the hearing and determination of the appeal,” the Attorney General Chambers stated.
The Vice President agreed with the reasoning emanating from the Attorney General’s Chambers.
And he explained that insurance must have a predefined sum and cannot be unlimited. And it must be derived based on the financial capabilities of the subsidiary and its parent company.
Further, he reminded reporters that the EPA is finalising a parent guarantee of some $2 billion to cover the costs of any adverse event, such as an oil spill, offshore.
shameful and a embarrassment to the country, people laughing from other countries. Not good !