Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 42 2022

LatAmOil GUYANA LatAmOil

The withdrawal will bring the NRF’s balance of around 1mn barrels of oil each, the BoG said.
back down below the equivalent of $1bn. The These six cargoes will bring the total number
BoG reported recently that as of September 30, of liftings from the country this year up to 13.
2022, the fund’s balance stood at GYD219.18bn To date, the proceeds from 16 cargoes have been
($1.055bn), up by 39.56% or GYD62.12bn deposited in the NRF.
($298.9mn) from GYD157.05bn ($755.67mn) All of the money flowing into the sovereign
as of June 30, 2022. wealth fund originates from exports of crude
Most of the increase in the fund’s balance extracted from the Liza-1 and Liza-2 sections
during the third quarter stemmed from the of Stabroek, an offshore block operated by a
lifting of four 1mn-barrel crude oil cargoes, subsidiary of ExxonMobil (US). These two sites
the BoG noted. It also reported, though, that are currently Guyana’s only producing oilfields.
the NRF had earned some GYD995.75mn ExxonMobil aims to bring the Payara section of
($4.79mn) between July and September from Stabroek on stream in 2023, followed by Yellow-
interest. This put the rate of return on interest tail in 2024 and Uaru in 2026.
earnings at 0.513% for the third quarter, up from The NRF was officially established under the
0.177% in the second quarter. mandate of a law passed by Guyana’s Parliament
The NRF’s interest earnings and rate of and signed by President Irfaan Ali last Decem-
return are expected to be even higher in the ber. Prior to that date, Guyana’s oil revenues had
fourth quarter of the year. This is because Guy- been held in a special account by the US Federal
ana is slated to export an additional six cargoes Reserve Bank of New York. ™

Guyana will set aside some unassigned

offshore blocks for bilateral partnerships

GUYANA’S President Irfaan Ali has said that his
government intends to set some sections of the
country’s offshore zone aside for partnerships
with other countries under bilateral accords
rather than including them in competitive
licensing rounds.
Speaking during a joint press conference
with Jane Miller, the British High Commissioner
to Guyana, Ali said that Georgetown intended to
dispose of a number of unassigned blocks in this
fashion. He did not identify any of the sites that
might be subject to this arrangement but noted
that the government of Barbados had also opted
to reserve some of its licence areas for partner
countries.
“We’re going to move to the auctioning of
some blocks, and we have some blocks that are
set aside for what is termed government-to-gov-
ernment partnership. And we’re looking at all
our strategic partners with these blocks,” he was
quoted as saying by OilNOW.gy.
The president went on to say that he had dis-
cussed a partnership along similar lines with
Boris Johnson, the former British prime min- Guyana’s offshore zone (Image: Guyana Geology and Mines Commission)
ister, during his visit to the UK in April of this
year. He did not say explicitly whether the two such bilateral deals might affect the schedule for
countries had struck a bilateral deal that would auctioning off unassigned licence areas. Guy-
ensure a British company’s access to a Guyanese ana’s government has yet to reveal exactly when
offshore block, but he did state that he had told it will start accepting bids for these blocks, and
Johnson that Guyana was hoping for support the country’s Ministry of Natural Resources
from the UK in bolstering its energy security. reported earlier in October that it was still work-
Ali did not say how many offshore blocks ing to finalise the terms of the contract model
might be set aside under government-to-gov- that the winners of the contests will have to
ernment partnerships or comment on whether follow.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 19•October•2022