Ministry of Natural Resources still struggling to update oil data to website
Feb 07, 2025
Kaieteur News-The Ministry of Natural Resources is still struggling to update oil data to its website, despite claims of receiving realtime information from the operator of the Stabroek Block, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL).
The portal offers data regarding the number of barrels produced at the Liza One and Liza Two, Payara projects in the Stabroek Block, as well as the daily reported injected gas, flared gas and gas used for fuel. It also gives an overview on the Brent Crude prices and the amount of water produced and injected.
Graph on the Petroleum Management Programme’s website, showing the last update on oil production data
The Ministry’s Petroleum Management Programme website offers access to petroleum data that is usually updated mid-month for the preceding month.
For instance, production data should have been published on the website by January 16, 2025 for the month of December, 2024.
Be that as it may, the last update on the website is dated November 30, 2024. The failure by government to provide timely updates on the extraction of oil resources has been a sore concern for stakeholders, although repeated promises have been made to upgrade the website.
With belated information being provided to the public, citizens have also complained about the manner in which the data is presented. The graphs are not user friendly and pose challenges for the ordinary citizen to interpret.
Environmental and transparency activists have been relentlessly stressing the need for such data to be shared with the public and more so, be updated in a timely fashion to avoid altering of information. These key production data are critical to stakeholders to keep the government and the operator of the Stabroek Block accountable.
Last year, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo announced during his weekly press engagement at Freedom House Georgetown that the government now has real-time access to Exxon’s production data, which is updated every 10 minutes.
He said the operator of the Stabroek Block now has a dashboard which is monitored by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
In addition to production data, Jagdeo said government now also has access to Exxon’s drilling activities in the Stabroek Block.
Previously, VP Jagdeo had expressed discontent with the delayed production updates being provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources to the public.
The failure by the Ministry of Natural Resources to update the website defeats the purpose of the portal to keep Guyanese informed on the exploitation of the oil and gas resources and further brings the government’s commitment to transparency into question.
(Ministry of Natural Resources still struggling to update oil data to website)
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