Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Using Exxon’s affiliates to draft Guyana’s laws, policies will have significant consequences – German NGO calls for urgent intervention
By giving its approval for ExxonMobil affiliates to draft Guyana’s laws and policies that will be used to regulate ExxonMobil’s behaviour and that of other oil companies, the World Bank is clearly not improving governance in that country, says German Human Rights Organization, Urgewald.
The Non-Governmental Organization made this known in its letter of appeal that was recently sent to the Directors of the World Bank Group. In the letter seen by this newspaper, Urgewald said that the bank, through its US$20M Guyana Petroleum Resource Governance and Management Project, funded two ExxonMobil affiliates to write Guyana’s Local Content Policy and revise its oil laws.
By giving its blessings in those instances, Urgewald said the Bank is not only violating its rules on conflict of interest and procurement but also undermining governance in the country.
Urgewald said, “Guyana is currently in a fragile position. There is much strain and dispute surrounding the unresolved results of the March 2 election. Exacerbating this fragile situation, the New York Times reports ‘Opposition party suspicions have added to a growing number of voices within Guyana and abroad who worry that Exxon’s corporate muscle is overwhelming the country’s small and inexperienced government.”
Urgewald said that the World Bank-funded, Exxon-linked contractors are only adding to this strain.
Unless there is urgent intervention, the NGO said that the Exxon-linked contractors will continue to draft new petroleum legislation and continue advising on new oil permits and contracts that will have significant consequences for the people of Guyana and the global Paris Climate Agreement goals.
Urgewald is therefore of the firm view that all funding via this project must be halted until a thorough investigation is completed.
EXXON-LINKED CONTRACTORS
Part of the Bank’s financial assistance targeted the drafting of new policies and laws, including the Local Content Policy and Petroleum Taxation and Fiscal Regulations.
In 2019, the coalition administration had announced that an oil consultant, Mr. Michael Warner, was hired to finish the drafting of the new Local Content Policy which would apply to new oil projects’ requirements surrounding the participation of Guyanese labour, services, and goods. Urgewald brought this to the attention of the World Bank Directors while noting that there was public criticism of the hiring of Mr. Warner, as he is the same contractor who was hired and paid by ExxonMobil to run the oil giant’s Local Content Centre for Development on South Road, Georgetown.
Urgewald also highlighted that the law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth that was hired for US$1.2 million to draft new petroleum laws for Guyana, is the very law firm which has been representing ExxonMobil for some 40 years.
Urgewald is a non-profit environmental and human rights organization that is based in Sassenberg, a small town in western Germany. It also runs an office in Berlin. For 25 years, Urgewald has been fighting against environmental destruction and for the rights of people harmed by corporate profit interests. During these 25 years, Urgewald has evolved from a small group of people to a powerful organization.
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