Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat has revealed that US$436 Million, deriving from seven oil lifts since Guyana started producing oil, currently sits in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF).
He made this remark at the 31st sitting of the National Assembly this morning, during his preamble before the second reading of the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Amendment bill.
The most recent oil lift from the Liza Destiny FPSO was on July 3rd – the third for this year and seventh in total. Guyana received US$79.6 million for the lift, which has taken the total sum of monies earned from the 7 million barrels of oil lifted US$388.777
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GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA LIFTS FROM LIZA DESTINY |
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Bill of Laden Date |
Volume |
Value (US$) |
| 19th February 2020 | 1,006,321 | 54,927,994.80 |
| 21st May 2020 | 980,854 | 35,063,582.05 |
| 9th August 2020 | 1,026,573 | 46,046,937.03 |
| 9th December 2020 | 998,629 | 49,413,180.10 |
| 5th February 2021 | 997,420 | 61,090,968.03 |
| 13th April, 2021 | 998,645 | 62,617,616.23 |
| 3rd July, 2021 | 1,047,820 | 79,617,561.87 |
| TOTAL | 7,056,262 | 388,777,840.1 |
As the Government of Guyana manages the nation’s patrimony to the benefit of all Guyanese, it remains committed to providing updates on oil lifts and sales as may be necessary to ensure that all stakeholders and members of the public are informed.
The Natural Resources Minister stressed that the government is intent on increasing transparency and accountability before it embarks on spending this money.
“We are of the strong view and we intend to ensure there is strong parliamentary oversight,” Minister Bharrat said in the National Assembly.
Guyana started producing oil in 2019 and earned money from the first 1 million barrels of oil to be lifted the next year. So far, all of Guyana’s oil revenues are being held in the NRF, which is banked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
It is expected that once the Natural Resource Fund Act, which stipulates that various committees must be established to provide oversight for the fund, is reviewed, it will be brought to the National Assembly by the current Government and pave the way for the fund to be accessed. (By Jarryl Bryan)
