Exxon and Guyana: The Showdown Looms

Aug 30, 2020 Editorial

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Exxon has taken off its gloves. The first thing that is noticeable is that there are brass knuckles beneath the company’s stance and stare. Now Guyana must put on its own game face and armour and get ready to do battle. Our leaders cannot flinch; our citizens cannot stay out of the fray, for the interests of all are intertwined in what develops over the next several days and weeks, and where things finalize.
There is the future of this country that is involved, and all of us should be consumed and raise voice and hand in objection to the low moves contemplated by Exxon, and as announced by it.
Exxon’s Country Manager, Mr. Alistair Routledge, went public to make clear his company’s position. Mr. Routledge speaks for the company and is the conduit for what the discussions concretized at its highest elevations. His message was a combination of several messages, which ranged from the soothing to the bluffing to the threatening. As is usual in matters such as these, Exxon would have dug deep to extract from its prior experiences with other furiously agitating and sharply demanding countries, from its deep well of corporate human resources wisdoms, and from its large and multi-layered bag of tricks to send a set of messages to Guyanese leaders and Guyanese citizens.
First, there was the opening greeting (a partial admission) and salvo (a carefully directed shot across the bow). It was said and read like this. “…Guyana is one of the better opportunities for us in the ExxonMobil portfolio (but) it is not the only one” (KN August 27). In that single sentence told a half truth and then ratcheted up the pressure on Guyana with the subtlest of reminders, a cautionary note well thought out and well delivered. Guyana is not “one of the better opportunities” but the absolute best that there is in the ExxonMobil portfolio. There is no other country on the face of the earth that has a contract that is so one-sided and so draining and damaging to the host country.
We at this publication invite Exxon to make public a side-by-side matrix of its global country holdings, if only to prove the accuracy of our claim. Or to disprove our contention that what Guyana got from Exxon and where it stands in comparison to others among the oil producing nations is the worst of the worst. In fact, we feel so strongly and confidently about this, that we challenge ExxonMobil to go the whole nine yards and prove us wrong. For the bottom-line is this, which is repeated for emphasis: Guyana is the best (the absolute best) opportunity and by a country mile, in the vast sprawl that is Exxon’s portfolio. Do not rob us and then attempt to insult our intelligence.
But that is exactly what the powers at ExxonMobil delivered through the auspices of Mr. Routledge in that stern warning that was meant to be sobering, perhaps, intentionally shocking. For in that same sentence, the Country Manager seamlessly switched gears to warn in a most nuanced fashion, “but it is not the only one.” What he did not say in strong language, we will say for him: Exxon has other lucrative relationships that are just as, if not more, prospering, and we have the option to reposition our investment and focus on those that are on the table elsewhere. Most specifically, Exxon will pack up its bags and leave.
Mr. Routledge then proceeded to bare his teeth in a defiant snarl at Guyana: “if we don’t get the agreement as we are looking for…the investment money will go elsewhere.” The Cosa Nostra would have been proud because what we heard was that Exxon made an offer that should and cannot be refused. We say go and don’t let the door hit on the way out.
Guyanese leaders must neither shiver nor surrender in what is the equivalent of a poker game with the highest stakes in the middle of a Mexican standoff. Mature and responsible corporations, genuine and honest partnering ones, do not fulminate against host countries in this disdainful and menacing manner, as in: it must be our way, or no way at all. We do not believe that ExxonMobil would have even thought of responding in this fashion with a European oil producing nation, such as Romania or Norway. But this is the demeaning stroke meted out to a largely coloured Third World nation. Like we said at another time, there is the condescension of embedded prejudices apparent when facing off against people of colour.
Further, it should be noted that we said, “Guyanese leaders” and not leaders of the still new government only. On this matter, on this confrontation with ExxonMobil, there is neither government nor opposition, nor can it be about the division of either the political victors or the electoral vanquished. This is about the future of Guyana and the prospects of all its children, which are now about to ground to a jarring standstill right before the nation’s eyes.
The government must be strong, and the opposition leaders must rally alongside it so that Guyana can be stronger. There is no other way, if this society is to succeed and surmount what amounts to an existential oil threat from Exxon. There is no other way of looking at this. There is no other way for this country to go about the hard and heavy business of its conversations with Exxon.
Guyana has a chance to salvage something from the wreckage and haemorrhage of its oil holdings. Exxon intends to bleed us dry. We must stand up for what is fair. We must not retreat before whatever comes at us, whether through the heavy-handedness of a bull rush, or the subtlety of some slick corporate manoeuvring and blustering by Exxon.
Whether an attempt at overpowering bullyism or skillful bluffing, Guyanese leaders and the Guyanese people must not blink. Though it may fall on the deafest of ears, we call on all leaders and every citizen to not surrender. We at this paper will not, for we will continue to fight to our last breath. Maybe even beyond.

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