VP assures that government collects entire 2% oil royalty.

Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has provided assurance to the nation that the government is diligently collecting every penny owed from the two percent royalty agreed upon with ExxonMobil under the Stabroek Block’s Production Sharing Agreement (PSA).

As outlined in the agreement, Guyana is entitled to a two percent share of all petroleum extracted and sold as royalty, along with fifty percent of the profits.

For context, royalty denotes the payment made by a company to the government for the privilege of extracting resources from its territory.

Despite speculation from political commentators Dr. Kendrick Hunte and Christopher Ram, suggesting that only 0.5% of royalties are being collected by the government and that approximately $73.8 million in royalties remain unaccounted for, Dr. Jagdeo dismissed these claims as unfounded. He described the analyses as wild speculation, emphasizing the commentators’ lack of technical competence.

Addressing the issue during a press conference at the Office of the President, Dr. Jagdeo reiterated that the government consistently collects the full two percent royalty and detailed the procedures involved.

Expressing frustration with local newspapers disseminating falsehoods and political commentators distorting facts, he criticized their tendency to sensationalize anti-government narratives without accountability.

Vice President Jagdeo has previously addressed similar speculation, clarifying inaccuracies in the critics’ calculations. Conversely, former minister under the coalition government, Dominic Gaskin, has affirmed that Guyana’s royalties and production shares for the reviewed period align with the actual amounts reported by the Natural Resources Fund. He dismissed claims of Guyana receiving only 0.5% in royalty payments as baseless.

Source: (Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, Department of Public Information)