The Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited has paid the sum of US$35,063,582.06 to Guyana for its second lift of crude and this has been confirmed by the Finance Ministry.
The second lift was on May 21, 2020.
The company which made the payment has been contracted Guyana’s first three cargoes.
This second payment has been deposited into the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) bringing its total to US$94, 921,803.00 or over 19 billion Guyanese dollars.
On February 19, this year, Guyana sold its first million barrels of oil which earned the country almost US$55M.
After this, its first quarter gross production saw Guyana receiving US$4.9M in royalties.
Earlier last month, Director of the Department of Energy (DE), Dr. Mark Bynoe, had told the media during a press conference that the country’s second lift would be expected by the third week of May.
At that time, he had also projected that the third lift to Shell Western could be possible by July of this year.
Although the current global crisis has resulted in oil and gas operations being delayed there has been no change in the projection that
Guyana is entitled to five cargoes for 2020.
As such, Guyana can markets its crude to another company or location after Shell would have received its three cargoes by next month (July).
Meanwhile, according to reports, the ‘light sweet’ Liza Crude has been “well received” even though it was new to the market and despite the drop in global oil demand.
Additionally, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, has stated that he is pleased that there can be no distrust about whether these finances are being managed well. He noted that relevant authorities have remained transparent in its dealings.
In the month of May, this year, Minister Jordan had stated “Everything has been to the book, by the book and transparent and accountable. All the monies that we have earned so far, as people can see, is going into the account and they can see the interest being earned.”
However, Guyana will only be able to utilise these resources to address crucial issues when a new Parliament commences.
