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Exxon is blowing off a whole lot of gas

May 29, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

ExxonMobil, one of the richest multinational corporations in the world, is showing off about some bird seed money that it is spending in Guyana.
The company ran an episode (Episode 4 to be precise) as part of its public relations comeback, announcing that over the past two years it has spent some $184M on corporate social responsibility.
Exxon is not doing Guyana any favour by spending this sum to finance projects in Guyana over the past two years. Interestingly, ExxonMobil does not provide a breakdown of the entire two-year amount. Exxon Mobil is undertaking corporate social responsibility to improve its image following the fallout which it suffered as a result of the exposure of the hand which it dealt Guyana in the renegotiation of its contract so that it could obtain a petroleum production license. Exxon is burnishing its image by its spending on corporate social responsibility.
Perhaps, it is bamboozling some Guyanese into believing that it is helping the nation but the bottom line is that corporate social responsibility is about earning the favour of the Guyanese people after they have been shafted by Exxon Mobil and the future of their children pawned.
The money that ExxonMobil is claiming that it has spent in Guyana over the past two years is bird seed money. ExxonMobil is one of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. It, as a company, is richer than the whole of Guyana combined. Its assets outstrip the annual GDP of Guyana. Yet it has spent less than US$1 million over two years and wants to show off about what a generous company it is.
There are major companies in Guyana which are poorer than some departments in Exxon Mobil. Yet these companies have spent more on corporate social responsibility on ExxonMobil which is due to become the largest multinational corporation operating in Guyana.
Companies like GT&T, DIGICEL, Banks DIH, Demerara Distillers Limited and Ansa Mac Cal – the big five – spend far more each year than that pittance of US$500,000 per year on corporate social responsibility.
What Exxon is spending is bird seed money. It is disgraceful for a company as large as Exxon to boast about spending less than US$500,000 per year.
When first oil comes in 2020 or 2021 (it is likely to be the latter), Guyana is set to earn, US$1M per year. Yet here is Exxon running an advertisement during prime time, bragging about how much it has spent in 2 years, what Guyana is due to earn from them in one day when first oil comes.
It is not clear whether that sum which Exxon is making a big fuss over includes the US$300,000 that it is supposed to spend each year in projects jointly identified by itself and the government of Guyana. That sum, too, is bird seed money.
Guyanese must not allow themselves to get excited by what these foreign multinationals are saying. The bird seed money will not make a difference to the fact that Guyana got a poor deal. It got strung around Exxon’s little fingers which now has the temerity to be claim bragging rights for its exercise of corporate social responsibility.
By the way, Exxon is trying to attenuate for the fallout from its past denial of climate change. It has agreed to reduce methane output by 25%. In light of that decision, Guyana must be feeling stiffed again by the deal it signed with Exxon in relation to gas. Or perhaps that promised reduction in flaring is just corporate social responsibility!

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