Mr. Speaker, I begin my presentation with a minute to reflect and acknowledge the progress made by the Government on their promises and plans since assuming office. Because of time constraints I will quickly focus on the cover of the manifesto where I assume the highlights are summarized.

· Creation of 50,000 new jobs versus more than 2,000 persons fired and no new jobs created!! I ask, pass or fail?

· $40,000 per month in old age pension versus $25,000 in their second budget – pass or fail?

· Better management/ renegotiation of oil contracts for the benefit of all Guyanese versus the intimate relationship that supports flaring, a lack of inclusivity and no renegotiation as promised – pass or fail?

· Removal of VAT on local construction materials – but the price of not a single material has dropped, some have even increased.

o Stone prices remain the same (actually there is a shortage currently).

o Sand, cement, concrete blocks, plywood prices are the same or risen since October 1, 2020

o Timber prices have increased (imported pine being purchased)

o Construction costs have risen 4%

o When you remove the smoke screens/mirrors – the ordinary man does not benefit – who exactly are enjoying these VAT reductions – it’s a case of the rich getting richer).

o Ask the homebuilders if any prices have dropped?

o What the opposition wants is the government to address the income of our workers – we demand that the public servants be given 10% interim wage increase retroactive to January immediately; increase the income threshold $1,200,000 with the income tax rate reduced to 25% at the bottom tier and 35% at the top tier (Mr. Speaker, the PPP already have the country in a hole with our largest budget deficit ever, if these measures agreed, at least the people will have a torch in this darkness).

Mr. Speaker – the main focus of my presentation this morning shall be the Oil and Gas Sector, however, I need to make a general comment on the PPP’s 2021 Budget submissions – my colleagues shall go into details at the appropriate stage.

Mr. Speaker, I concluded my 2020 budget presentation last year with this statement and I quote – “Mr. Speaker, I would like to end my contribution by providing an insight into Budget 2021 –there is a slew of interesting transformational projects, all with studies and in final design stage, In fact, some of the projects that you will see in the PPP Budget 2021 submission” are as follows”-

Mr. Speaker, I then proceeded to list a number of projects that the APNU+AFC administration left that the PPP will shamelessly attempt to claim as their own, and I listed projects such as

· Linden – Mabura Hill Road – an APNU+AFC designed and funded project.

· Linden – Soesdyke Highway Upgrade – an APNU+AFC designed and funded project.

· East Coast – East Bank Bypass all the way up to CJIA

· Road linkages in region 3 – which the PPP are now calling their superhighway.

· New bridge over the Demerara River plus a new bridge at Monkey Jump linking Bartica

· And several other projects.

Mr. Speaker, do these projects sound similar? Of course, they should, if you read Section E. of the 2021 Budget Speech headed Transformational Infrastructure, they are all listed there.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, EVERY SINGLE MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONAL PROJECT in this 2021 budget, with the exception of the Amalia Falls Project was conceptualized, designed and in most cases, funding was secured by the APNU+AFC administration – EVERY SINGLE ONE!

Mr. Speaker, I anticipate that the PPP will try to deny these facts, however while they may control the media, they cannot control the Worldwide Web – Mr. Speaker, I invite you to visit my page on Facebook, Hon. David Patterson MP (don’t worry, it’s a public page, you don’t have to like it to view the contents). There you will see the APNU+AFC 2017-2025 Infrastructural Development Plan – which was prepared in 2016, less than a year after we took office some 5 years ago, and it was the backbone for our impressive infrastructural momentum. You will see every single major road and bridge that the PPP are now claiming as their transformational projects. Every single major project in Budget 2021 was detailed and even costed in that document.

Mr. Speaker, our Developmental Plan was not only limited to roads and bridges, but it also contained an energy roadmap. The Prime Minster is due to speak, and he will likely tell this House (no doubt to loud fanfare from his colleagues over there) about the PPP plans for Energy Expansion and Diversification – he will mention projects such as: –

· GPL 47MW new generators which will be commissioned later this year, which will help end blackouts, what the PM will not say, is that project was designed, funding secured and constructed by the APNU+AFC administration.

· Solar farms in Mahdia, Leguan, Bartica and Lethem – what the PM will not say, is that these projects were designed, funding secured and procured by the APNU+AFC administration.

· Hydro power projects in Kumu and Moco-Moco – what he will not say, is that these projects were designed, and funding secured by the APNU+AFC administration.

· Kato Hydro project is schedule to be completed in this year – however the PM will not say is that this project was designed, funding secured and constructed by the APNU+AFC administration.

· Mini-solar farms in Annai and other indigenous villages – what the PM will not say, is that these projects were designed, and funding secured by the APNU+AFC administration.

Mr. Speaker – according to Webster online dictionary to “plagiarize” means to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own or to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

It is crystal clear that the PPP has plagiarized the APNU+AFC Infrastructural Developmental Plan – Mr. Speaker, I want to give the PPP credit for recognizing the value of our plans for the betterment of the Country, but, at minimum we demand that they give us the credit. The people of this country deserve to know the truth.

Mr. Speaker – having established that the 2021 Infrastructural Development Plan was the APNU+AFC’s, it begs the question “what are the two Ministers of Public Works doing on a daily basis”? It is obvious that the Ministry of Public Works is on auto pilot. Having the Ministry running on auto pilot is not necessarily a bad thing, the less these two Ministers get involved, the less damage to the Ministry they can cause.

Mr. Speaker, the evidence says that the only jobs that the two Ministers do on a daily basis, is to fire hard working public servants. It is public knowledge that the Chief Works Officer was fired, so too was the Director General of MARAD, the Procurement Specialist, GM of the Habour Bridge, the Hinterland Coordinator, they have now turned their attention to members of the CORE team, they have already terminated the entire CORE teams in Leguan, Wakenaam, teams in regions 3, 4 and 6 – more than 60 youths and single mothers have been placed on the breadline. Mr. Speaker, I ask whether this is the PPP’s fulfillment of their campaign promise to Guyana, of taking care of women and including youths in national life?

Mr. Speaker, included in budget 2021, is the sum of G$2.5B that has been earmarked for the CJIA expansion, however the Nation was told in December 2020, that the contractor CHEC was going to undertake G$1.8B additional works which included the extension of the terminal building as well as 2 new passenger boarding bridges – so the question is why are taxpayers footing another bill of G$2.5B? After the additional works of the contractor, what will the $2.5B be spent on? Answers are needed as to who will be executing these works and what procurement process will be utilized?

Further Mr. Speaker, what should be of most immediate concern to the citizens, is the status of the contractor’s performance and retention bonds. As of July 30, 2020 – the then Ministry of Public Infrastructure retained two bonds, collectively valued at approximately US$14M, the larger of the two, the performance bond valued at US$8M was a bond guaranteeing the Client that the Contractor will execute the project to the required standards otherwise they could cash the bond on demand. The other bond was a retention guarantee bond, which was a guarantee to the Client that the Contractor will remedy all defects during the retention period.

These bonds are most important since because the loan period has come to an end, the EXIM Bank of China has already paid over the remaining funds in the loan to the Contractor CHEC – and the bonds are there to ensure that they finish the project to the Client’s satisfaction. These bonds expired on December 31, 2020.

In other words, CHEC can walk off the site today, and the Ministry and the country will lose US$14M with no other recourse than to seek redress in the courts – a wholly unsatisfactory and unacceptable position. The citizens deserve to know, what is the status of these bonds???

OIL AND GAS

Mr. Speaker – since the announcement of the discovery of oil in 2015, there has been much talk inside and outside of Guyana about the strength and value of the Contract signed between the Government of Guyana and Exxon. Mr. Speaker, the PPP promised, and I quote, “We will approach the oil and gas sector in a national, non-partisan way and put a framework in place to properly manage the sector with a focus on proper management of the resource, transparency, and accountability and securing benefits for all Guyanese. This will involve better contract administration/re-negotiation, arms-length management and regulation of the industry and the involvement of civil society in oversight.”While we in the Opposition maintain our position, that the 2016 agreement was a vastly improved Contract on the 1999 agreement signed by the PPP/C, we are willing to offer the Government the opportunity never afforded to the APNU+AFC. We are willing to offer our support on presenting a united position so that jointly we can address the alleged inadequacies in the Contract and any other documents including the Environmental Permits.

While in opposition, the PPP never offered the Government their support on any issue other than our border controversy with Venezuela. The lack of a unified front has allowed various parties to exploit the divisions which is not to the benefit of our country and its citizens. It is our position, that once we present a unified position to our international partners, the harder it will be for them to continue ignoring our concerns. Moving forward, this issue is squarely in the hands of the Government, the time for grandstanding and blame is over, it’s time to act in the best interest of the citizens of our Country.

Mr. Speaker, the APNU+AFC administration, via our Minister of Natural Resources, made it a requirement that Exxon fully brief the PPP opposition on every new discovery and development. These briefings were conducted bilaterally between Exxon and the PPP, with no involvement from our Government. This was done because it was our opinion, that all political parties should be fully briefed on this important emerging industry. The opposition has yet to be briefed by any of the operators because the Government has requested that no information be shared with us – this is in stark contrast to our handling of this sector and does not reflect the claims of inclusiveness that the Government has been making speeches about.

Natural Gas Flaring

Mr. Speaker, a lot has been said over the last few months on the vexing matter of flaring of Natural Gas by Exxon, something that is expressly prohibited in their Environmental Permit. While acknowledging that mistakes and breakdowns can occur, APNU+AFC coalition is not satisfied with the handling of this issue by the Operator as well as the Government.

Mr. Speaker, the response by Exxon to this issue, has quite frankly not only been disrespectful and insulting to the Guyanese public, but they also continue breaking the laws of the land with impunity. Mr. Speaker, Parliament’s patience and trust in Exxon has to be at its thinnest right now with their thumbing of their nose at Guyana’s laws and the many empty promises that they had been making over and over, since start of production in December of 2019.

The company started out by saying that there will be no flaring from “day one”, then day one became a promise of day 60 which became a promise of day 90, and now the same promise is ongoing for over one year without change and with the dire consequence of severely polluting the environment with the flaring of close to 14 billion cubic feet of gas in violation of the Environmental Permit, hence violation of Guyana’s laws.

Further Mr. Speaker, Exxon’s apparent intent must be seriously worrisome to this Parliament and the people of Guyana by saying that a justification for their flaring is because Guyana is a carbon sink country – in other words, because we have a pristine rainforest, we have the capacity to take in more air pollutants. Mind you Mr. Speaker, according to reports as recently as three days ago, this is the same company that pledged to its shareholders that it will cut flaring by a whopping 35 to 45 percent across its global operations. In other words, as far as Exxon is concerned, it’s quite OK to protect the health, safety and environment for all of the people of the world, except Guyanese. Mr. Speaker, the PPP promised better management of this sector!

Mr. Speaker, the company proceeded to insult us further, by saying that they have to produce and flare above the legal limit because Guyana is a poor country, especially in this COVID -19 time, so we need the money badly and so it is better to let them continue to pollute our environment. Let us not be fooled, because in as much as the Coalition welcomes Exxon to our shores with open arms, their only reason for being here is to make money for Exxon and not because they want to help a poor country.

Mr. Speaker, what is most alarming though, is that instead of living up to its promises and high expectations, the company has chosen to engage in what could only be described as a campaign of public misinformation and falsehoods, and what is even more distressing is that this Administration is being so readily misled by accepting and repeating these falsehoods and misinformation, such as the deliberate untruth that Exxon is in compliance with all environmental laws and regulations. This unfortunate position enables Exxon to continue its misdeeds towards the people of Guyana.

Mr. Speaker, no one is bigger than the law, and it is unpatriotic for this Parliament to allow our law enforcement to so rigorously enforce and shut down Mom and Pop chicken rearing operations and shops in residential neighborhoods, but allow Exxon a free pass, despite their much worse threat to the people’s health, safety and the environment.

Mr. Speaker, Exxon will only be here for maybe the next 25 – 30 years, while we would be here having to live in an environment that they leave for us for generations to come. It is our obligation in this 12th Parliament to ensure that we protect with all our might, the health and wellbeing of our future generations. The Opposition is ready, willing and able to join forces with the PPPC to fend off the health, safety and environmental threats to our people, just like we do for national security of our country.

Mr. Speaker, the flaring as an example, has highlighted the weakness in the administration of this sector. The company has reported that they are flaring 16 million cubic feet of gas daily due to a defective valve, however EPA cannot independently verify these quantities. Towards this goal of bridging this gap, the World Bank and the EPA jointly developed a 36-person highly skilled and experienced Oil and Gas Unit within the EPA, with recruitment to have been initiated with the 2020 budget. This was stalled because of COVID and the elections which delayed the budget approval. To date, not a single one of these skilled positions has been filled in this Unit. We therefore call upon the Honorable Minister to indicate where monies are being identified in the 2021 budget to fill these critical positions. This is of National Importance!!

Mr. Speaker, a Motion has been introduced into this Parliament to have this matter fully debated and I learnt that the motion has been approved, even with amendments. During that debate – the opposition will further set out our position.

Mr. Speaker, I know all of the attention has been on flaring or dumping pollutants into the air we breathe; but Mr. Speaker, just as frightening to the protection of our health, environment, rich biodiversity, and fishing industry, is the dumping of wastewater produced with the oil, into the ocean.

Here again, Mr. Speaker, when challenged, Exxon excused this unsavory practice by callously misleading the Guyanese pubic that the World Bank approves such a practice. Mr. Speaker, this is a blatant misrepresentation of the World Bank’s guidance on this practice. What the World Bank actually says Mr. Speaker, is that re-injection of produced water must be the first option, and water dumping must only be considered only if re-injection is not financially or technically feasible. Mr. Speaker, there is no question, not even by Exxon, that re-injection is both technically and financially feasible.

Mr. Speaker, Exxon’s other unbelievable false claim is that the dumping of the water does not pollute the environment. Mr. Speaker, the fact is that even the low oil concentration allowed in the water being dumped, would result in an accumulation of hundreds of barrels of pure oil being dumped during the life of our offshore oil and gas operations.

Mr. Speaker, as you and as this Parliament can tell, we would be ducking our responsibility to the generations of the future if we do not take immediate steps to nip this problem in the bud right now, rather than waiting until it becomes irreversible with the compounding effect of numerous FPSOs operating at the same times for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, while it cannot at this stage be attributed to our emerging oil and gas sector, our local fisherfolks have been reporting reduced catches. These are small as well as commercial companies. It is an issue that requires the input of this parliament; thus, it is our intention to move a motion on water dumping shortly in the Parliament to ensure that it is analyzed and facts come to light.

Gas to Shore Project

Mr. Speaker, I turn my attention to the proposed Gas to Shore project and would like to place on record the difference in approach for this project by the two administrations: –

· September 2015 – at a Cabinet briefing by Exxon, we were informed that the company was desirous of taking Liza 1 to early production, however this early production date may result in the flaring of the associated gas – Cabinet advised that flaring of gases would not be permitted – Exxon were requested to find alternative solutions.

· February 2016 – Exxon informed that the re-injection of associated gas was possible. They were then requested to determine, if possible, what quantity of natural gas could be made available to be piped to shore without adversely affecting oil recovery.

· July 2016 – MoPI presented to cabinet Guyana Power Generation System Expansion Study funded by the IDB, which included the option of powering part of our generating system by natural gas fuel.

· September 2016 – based on the study results and subsequent discussions, the Ministry of Natural Resources officially requested that Exxon consider the possibility of bringing gas to shore. The Government also commissioned a desk top study on “Screening Evaluation of sites for proposed onshore base to support fledgling offshore oil and gas industry”. It was based on this initial study that the then Minister of Natural Resources announced that it was our desire to locate the future onshore bases in Berbice.

· February 2017 – Exxon confirmed the possibility of supplying 30 – 50 mmcfd to shore for the purpose of power generation.

· March 1, 2017 – Ministry of Public Infrastructure commenced a Desk Study to provide pre-feasibility information. The study was titled ‘Options, costs, economics, impacts and key considerations of transporting and utilizing gas from offshore Guyana for the generation of electricity for local consumption’.

· April 1, 2017 – Following a restricted tendering process, the company, Energy Narrative was contracted on April 1,2017 to conduct the Desk Study – the IDB were approached and requested a list of their top oil and gas consultants.

· June 8, 2017 – Final Report of the desk study was Submitted by Energy Narrative to GoG with guidance on options, costs, economics, impacts and key considerations of transporting and utilizing gas from offshore Guyana for the generation of electricity for local consumption.

· September, 2017 – Working Group (GoG) convened; The Working Group comprised key organizations including but not limited to MoPI, GPL, GEA, Ministry of Finance, GO-INVEST, Ministry of Business, Ministry of Natural Resources. The Working Group was convened to provide technical advice based on information and data submitted by ExxonMobil regarding gas to power generation.

· January , 2018 – to ensure continued transparency and awareness, aCabinet Paper was prepared and presented on Site Selection and the Natural Gas Project

· February 2018 – Scoping meeting held between MoPI and World Bank to determine areas of possible technical cooperation and assistance. Brugman SAS was contracted by the IDB for the Update of the Study of the Generation System based on discussions and plans made in November/December 2017.

· March 2018 – Feasibility Study commenced by Energy Narrative on technical and commercial aspects of the proposed project as an update to the Desk Study completed in 2017 which will include components such as natural gas pipeline, LPG separation plant and power generation infrastructure. A Gas to Power Expression of Interest advertised by IDB for consulting services for a technical and economic feasibility study for the development of natural gas use in electricity generation in Guyana (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Gas to Power’ Study). This was followed by a Presentation to Cabinet by the Working Group on March 20, 2018.

· May 2018 – MoPI reconvened the Site Selection Team (as a Site Development Team) in April/May 2018 to conduct further internal developmental work to evaluate varying technical and economic considerations – report was submitted to Cabinet.

· September 2018 – SiteAnalysis for a new deep-water port in Guyana was prepared by Martine & Transport Business Solutions BV funded by the IDB, the consultants examined over 15 sites and took into account all previous reports done (A. Ashar & P Woodbury – 1998; Ministry of External Affairs Government of India – 2010)

· November 2019 – Oil and Gas Master Plan Final Report was produced with Japan Cooperation Center

Mr. Speaker, contrast that with what the PPP are doing. No evidence of studies, reports, or analysis – absolutely nothing. Yet they have decided that they are going to locate the gas to shore project in Wales. They have even established a company – Wales Development Authority and are now seeking funding in 2021, for monies to conduct the geotechnical, geophysical, environmental impact and LIDAR studies. Mr. Speaker – this is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse – what results do they expect these studies to provide? The decisions have already been made – these studies will just be window dressing to a bad project.

Mr. Speaker – we have been here before, if history teaches us anything, we will see another failed project on our hands – remember Skeldon Sugar Factory, Berbice Bridge, Amalia Falls Project, CJIA Expansion and the Marriott Hotel – all these projects have something in common, other than being failures, the Honorable Vice President Jagdeo, the Honorable Minister of Finance and the former head of NICIL now CEO of the Wales Development Authority – THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN – and to celebrate they intend to embark on another failed project at the tax payers expense. These three gentlemen have saddled Guyana with almost US$.5B in worthless projects already and are starting again (Skeldon – US$200M, CJIA-$150M, Amalia Falls – $45M and Marriott – $90M plus the money owed to NIS for the Berbice Bridge) – and now they are coming to dip their hands again into the cookie jar for another US$800M project. Note what all these projects have in common – except for the Amalia Falls project – none had feasibility studies undertaken before the decision was made – yet they are attempting to do the same again.

Mr. Speaker let’s look closer at the decision to build a Gas powerhouse at Wales, which was one of 10 sites examined by a multi stakeholder group and deemed not viable for several reasons.

Namely:-

· British Expert indicated that it would be an act of lunacy to place a gas pipeline across the mouth of our busiest river.

· Like most South America Rivers – the Demerara River is fast flowing, US Army don’t even allow their divers to do salvage work in rivers of this speed.

· Power has to come over to the main load center, how will this be done? The last attempt – the submarine cable is a disaster.

· Timeline – another pipe dream, without any studies (for which they are now seeking funding), the minister is claiming that the project will be completed during 2023. Hogwash (if it is done within acceptable standards) – the FEED (Front End Engineering Design which is done after the completion of the feasibility takes 9 months), the fabrication of the pipeline alone takes 2 years, laying of the pipeline is another 9 months – not to mention the civil works for the power plants as well as the sub-stations for GPL.

· Functionality – the supply of gas will be interpreted for an anticipated 2 – 3 days per year, for routine maintenance of the equipment. To keep the plants working you will need a fuel supply. It is impractical to build storage tanks for natural gas and the location makes it very difficult to supply with Heavy Fuel Oil – the recommended storage capacity is 7 days’ worth of HFO (Compare this to GPL 26MW at Vreed-en-hoop which gets fuel via tanker every 10 days using the largest tanker which is 25,000 barrels – Wales at 250MW will need 10 times this amount)

· Future planning – Liza 1 and 2 will only produce 30mmcf per day, only enough for power generation. The next two options for more associated gas are Longtail and Turbot (which are due to come online by 2030) – guess where these fields are located? – in the east, close to region 5 and 6. Increased costs to bring it to Wales.

The gas to shore project, is a sequel to a B rated movie – with the same leading actors – the results will be the same.

Mr. Speaker nowhere is this budget the term or concept of Search and Rescue is even mentioned. Not a single penny has been allocated for this necessary activity. We just lost a boat without an engine, piloted by dead people and yet this administration has not allocated a single dime to ensure that we can build capacity in this most necessary activity.

Mr. Speaker, nowhere in this budget is the concept of increasing the capacity of MARAD – this agency is wholly inadequate to handle the Oil and gas. Under the APNU+AFC administration we applied to the IDB for a loan for capacity building and enhancement of this agency – this has since fallen by the wayside.

Mr. Speaker, the main purpose of budgeting are to set the goals for future actions, identify and implement the strategies to accomplish these goals and monitor your results to support these achievements. If changes are not made to this budget, in terms of the goals and strategies, we are being set up by this Government for failure – Failure to keep promises, Failure to deleiver a better life for ALL Guyanese

Mr. Speaker, I close by repeating our demands, in requesting that the Government pay an interim payment of 10%, retroactive to January to our public servants pending final agreement with the relevant unions, increase income tax threshold to $1.2M and lower the income tax rates – its time to show our people that you care.