(Kaieteur News) – Trinidadian Energy Strategist, Anthony Paul has urged Guyana to guard against secrecy in the oil and gas sector, a dangerous culture that gripped his home nation and affected the country from enjoying the full value of its natural resources.

In a column published on Sunday by Kaieteur News, the energy expert lauded Guyana’s efforts for publishing several petroleum agreements, but pointed to the deafening calls for transparency in the development of the gas industry with several documents still not public.

Paul explained, “The Gas-to-Energy project should be a learning point. If key licences, agreements, cost-recovery arrangements, pipeline terms, gas supply arrangements, reimbursements or related project documents are not available in the same way petroleum agreements have been published, then citizens should ask why. Not because the project is necessarily wrong. Not because development should stop. But because a national energy project funded by public resources and linked to petroleum production must be subject to public understanding.”