Dear Editor,
The use of the term ‘bridging deed’ for what is essentially a new petroleum prospecting license was initially puzzling until I examined the laws governing the sector.
The Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act provides that: Section 21 (2): A petroleum prospecting license shall not be granted to an applicant in respect of a block which is, at the time the application for the grant of the license is made, comprised in a license already granted.
Section 24 (1): Subject to this Act, a person who holds a petroleum prospecting license may apply for the renewal of the license, but not more than twice, in accordance with the Regulations.
Since the Contractor Consortium (Exxon, CNOOC and Hess) could not be granted a new license as in Section 21 (2) or another renewal as in 24 (1), a new license was granted under another name.
It comes as no great surprise to discover that the oil companies wrote the memorandum for Raphael Trotman to present to Granger’s Cabinet, for Trotman seems to have been blinded by the bright lights and confused by ‘the smell of oil’. Call it what you will, the ‘bridging deed’ is an act of taking advantage of the non-compos mentis or ‘nincompoops’ in layman’s terms.
Can the laws of Guyana be so easily circumvented? This is the US$55 billion question that Guyanese will answer on March 2, 2020.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh