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The VPs reassurance on oil spill insurance

Oct 18, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – We have been unrelenting in our calls for it. That is, for Guyana to get Exxon to obtain insurance coverage to insulate this country in the event of an oil spill, catastrophic or otherwise. Thus, it is good that our pleas and pressings have not fallen on deaf ears, and that somebody is listening. It is not just anybody, but Guyanas all-powerful oilman, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, who has promised to look into it (KN October 14).
We have our doubts about the sincerity of the Vice President, but we give him the time and space to go after proper insurance for Guyana, and extract binding commitments from Exxon on this most vital of requirements. If he puts his mind to it, and goes after such an undertaking with energy and heart, then it will be. It is as simple as that, and we believe that, because Dr. Jagdeo knows that, too. In our October 14 article, the Vice President was clear that obtaining oil insurance coverage remains a high priority for his government.
We shall see, and though there may be some of the customary local political leadership dillydallying with this, we will not be distracted from pressuring this Government to pursue meaningful and timely oil insurance, and with Exxon paying the premiums, which are sure to be hefty. To emphasise this point: if the insurance coverage is truly to offer Guyana the kind of protection it needs, then the cost is going to be significant. Exxon knows this, which is why it balks at paying this. Hence, our leaders and watchdogs must be on the alert for any accounting trickery that lumps insurance premiums under those bulked-up bills that Exxon has been dumping in our laps.
Though there is no need for us to elaborate on the urgency for oil insurance, we spend a moment on it, so that all citizens appreciate where things stand in, and for, Guyana. Our own National Insurance Scheme struggles, in one way or another, to deal with its obligations to contributors. Also, longstanding local insurance powers, the aggregate of them, are not in a position to underwrite the possible far-reaching consequences of a disastrous oil spill, which could extend beyond our shores. Guyanas insurance companies, the sum of them, would need to partner with outsiders to be in a position to honour costs involved in a post oil spill scenario. The bigger such is, the worse the situation financially for those collecting the premiums, but now having to pay up. It is why we say Exxon is the entity that has to foot this bill. If not, this oil becomes more of a losing proposition for Guyana, which is putting this in the simplest, most bareboned of terms.
Exxon is pumping and producing oil at the six-figure level daily in our waters. The company gets the hog of the returns from our oil; therefore, it is nonnegotiable that it must put every layer of protection in place, if only to safeguard our marine life, our coastline, our peoples, and our way of life. And in each one of those areas, our neighbours also. At the top of the protection layers stands the kind of insurance coverage that leaves hair on our heads, and let us sleep.
Vice President Jagdeo knows all this, which is why he is claims to be open to urgings that the issue of oil insurance coverage must be high on our agendas of discussion with Exxon. He cannot let the company off the hook, as he has done time and again. He cannot say today that he will look into it, and then believe that he has gotten rid of the concern, that Guyanese will forget, and that he will get away with another slick verbal evasion. We assure him and all Guyanese that we at this publication will not let him forget, because we will wave it in front of his eyes, and hang it over his head.
Unlike the other promises, which he has made (openness and reports), but which he has not kept, this insurance matter is too precious to be ignored. It could cost us for generations to come, if proper insurance is not obtained.

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