Last Updated on March 10, 2020, 3:05 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The World Bank is supposed to pay for the costs of rewriting Guyana’s oil laws by a legal firm. The existing oil laws have been working regularly in favour of ExxonMobil. The US-based company has prepared to extract as much as 8 billion barrels of oil off the coast of Guyana.
The World Bank has sworn that it would not to fund fossil fuel extraction directly. Still, it is giving Guyana millions of dollars to develop governance in its burgeoning oil sector, as the country prepares for an oil rush headed by ExxonMobil and its partners.
Guyana’s government was in charge of hiring a US-based law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth to revise the country’s Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act.
The World Bank reviewed the hiring and found no problems with the process. The World Bank will now be funding the process by a grant worth 1.96 million dollars.
Otherwise, The World Bank has pledged not to fund fossil fuel extractions directly. Still, it is providing Guyana millions of dollars to develop good governance in its growing oil sector, as the country prepares for an oil rush headed by ExxonMobil and its partners.
It is being said that the present oil laws are good governance for the oil companies, but are not good governance for the people of Guyana or the global climate. In addition to this, it is being said that The World Bank is causing a conflict of interest, and as an effect, diluting good governance.
The World Bank has already faced criticism in the over the matter of its involvement in the oil sector.
The World Bank was praised by the environmental campaign groups in 2017 at the time when the bank pledged to stop investment in upstream oil and gas.
However, it was previously reported that The World Bank had earmarked 55 million dollars to improve governance in the gas and oil sector in Guyana.
ExxonMobil is a company based in Texas, and it announced in December that it had started production off Guyana’s coast, the said production is said to have started within five years from the day when oil was first discovered there.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
