Where are our true patriots?

Jan 29, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
Any thought of revision of the PSA signed by Government and Exxon was thrown in the trash can by Natural Resource Minister Trotman. At a recent press conference, Trotman dropped the bomb on the Nation.
“I am not presently advised that government has any intention revisiting that agreement, because when we weighed it the baskets and scales-what we are getting against what we are not getting-we decided that this is what we are going to content ourselves with.”
It is difficult to imagine the Minister entrusted to enact the PSA with Exxon to convince some 28 people, (the cabinet) particularly, the President, whom so often called on the Nation to be patriotic in light of the Venezuelan controversy to accept an agreement that literally gives Exxon everything out of the ordinary.
Where are our true patriots? Have they all turned protagonists in what is envisages as an act of collusion?
Trotman cited “foreseen criticisms” as one of the reasons for hesitating to release the contract; “this is one of the reasons why governments and companies are loath to make contracts public because they criticise every word.”
“They,” presumably speak of the Guyanese citizenry. This statement is in itself collusive and anti-transparent in nature! He then added, “There is always a tension between publication and the need for transparency.”
Utter nonsense! Speaking of contracts, publication is the essence of transparency. The minister then drifted into the surreal by boasting that the Coalition government has aspired to greater level of transparency than governments of the past. Then back to reality by asserting, “We have broken from the past governments in Guyana from 1966 to now.”
From bad to worse, to the detriment of the Nation! Trotman said that government will use the lessons learned to ensure it gets the best PSA’s it MAY sign in the future. “May sign,” is reflective of the truth. Crude oil or fossil fuel is a product of the fossil remains of sea creatures that lived millions of years ago, overlaid and compressed naturally by sedimentary rocks. It is found in pockets deep in the earth’s crust. That is the reason Exxon had to drill five wells in a single block to amass an estimated 3.2 billion barrels.
Oil is not found in a long continuous stream all the way to the Venezuelan oil fields as some people believe. There might not be another find outside of the Stabroek block. Hence getting it right the second time is wishful thinking.
The Minister stated that Exxon deserves the advantages it has been given in the contract. What the public sees as flawed (PSA) may have been deliberate for sinister reasons.
His justification – Exxon needs to be rewarded for taking a chance in Guyana’s waters, because- “Other companies had shied away from developing the resource offshore.” Purely nonsense! Who knew it was there? It is not a resource until someone discovers it. Why reward an oil company so generously for taking a chance? It is what oil companies do.
They take seismic readings, whenever they feel they have a positive one, they drill. It’s a hit or miss scenario. By not applying “ring fencing,” we would be financing their future search-—a costly exercise. Logically speaking! In local parlance, Exxon should “bless up” the minister personally for his generosity towards the company.
Trotman, in his ramblings about Exxon said, “We needed a multinational company with strong credentials given.” That could only mean financial–not social.
He said someone in Norway told him-”You should be lucky you have Exxon to deal with, because there are lots of other terrible companies out there, so Guyana should be lucky.”
I recall that it was a Norwegian law firm that was hired to help in negotiating the PSA with Exxon.
Rudolph Singh

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