Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 20 2022

LatAmOil GUYANA LatAmOil

Guyana announces first withdrawal of

oil earnings from sovereign wealth fund

GUYANA’S Senior Finance Minister Ashni targets. The funds can be made available for pur-
Singh announced last week that the government poses such as energy security, social services and
had made its first withdrawal from the Natural improvements in physical infrastructure.
Resource Fund (NRF). Guyana’s current government has generally
In a statement from the Finance Ministry, taken a negative stance on the use of oil revenues
Singh was quoted as saying that Georgetown for direct cash transfers and subsidies and has
had taken a total of $200mn out of the fund, criticised the previous administration for what
in accordance with Section 16 of the Natural it considers to be excessive spending. Vice Pres-
Resource Fund (NRF) Act of 2021. The money ident Bharrat Jagdeo has said, for example, that
has now been transferred to the Consolidated the previous government accumulated excessive
Fund, where it is expected to be used to fund expenses while failing to address the need for
future national development initiatives, he said. long-term developmental projects.
Guyana’s government introduced the NRF Guyana is anticipated to spend approxi-
Act 2021, which came into effect on January 1, mately $3.45bn, over 60% of its oil revenues,
2022, as a mechanism to improve the overall over the next four years. ™
management of the country’s natural resources
wealth, while also increasing the public sec-
tor’s transparency and accountability in such
matters. According to the Ministry of Finance’s
statement, the transfer “was made in accordance
with the strengthened legal architecture of the
NRF Act 2021 and follows the publication in the
Official Gazette of all petroleum revenues paid
into the Natural Resource Fund” during the first
quarter of this year.
This transfer is expected to be the first of
several made this year. Guyana’s parliament has
approved the withdrawal of up to $607.6mn
during Fiscal Year 2022 as part of its 2022 budget
agenda.
While the government is not required to
inject these funds directly into projects, it is
expected to use the money to support develop-
ments that contribute to the nation’s oil revenue Finance Minister Singh (Photo: Ministry of Finance)

CGX needs more information before

declaring Kawa-1 a commercial find

A representative of Canada’s CGX Energy, the not only the exploration wells but appraisal
operator of the Corentyne block offshore Guy- [and] complete mapping of the potential of this
ana, has indicated that the company is not ready essential channel complex to really know where
to determine whether the hydrocarbon discov- we are,” he was quoted as saying by OilNOW.gy.
ery at the Kawa-1 well is commercially viable. “We’re very optimistic at this point.”
Dr. Mark Zorback, CGX’s senior technical Responding to questions about the well’s
advisor, said during a virtual presentation last commerciality, Zorback explained that CGX
week that while results from the exploration would need more information before making a
well were very promising, the firm had not yet declaration. He did not say how long it might
reached a formal conclusion. “It’s going to take take to obtain the necessary data.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 20 19•May•2022