Citizens protest lopsided ExxonMobil contract

Feb 16, 2022 News

– demand full coverage insurance, renegotiation of oil deal, as protest continues today

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – Kaieteur News’ Publisher, Glenn Lall and Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Sherod Duncan on Tuesday braved the sun and the rain to join citizens in a protest in front of the Marriott Hotel where the four-day Guyana Energy Conference 2022 and business expo is being held.
The protesters clamoured for Guyana’s Government to secure a “better oil deal” and full coverage insurance from American oil Giant ExxonMobil. As both foreign and international delegates, along with government politicians and members of the private sectors, posed for photos and socialised at the energy conference, the citizens shouted, “change the contract, we want a fair deal”.
The police tried to bar the protesters from getting close to the Marriott Hotel and tried to deter them from using a loud speaker to make their cries heard by the dignitaries attending the conference but they insisted that their pleas must be heard. They held their placards with pride and continued to demand that the government must negotiate a better contract with Exxon.
Opposition MP, Sherod Duncan told reporters that he joined the protestors to lend his voice in pleading for renegotiation of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) that the Coalition had signed with ExxonMobil’s Subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEGPL) in 2016. “Duncan said, “we need more out of this oil deal with ExxonMobil and so in my capacity, I am lending my voice, to the Guyanese out here demanding more for the citizens of this country”.
Glenn Lall, Kaieteur News’ Publisher made clear in front of the cameras that he is fighting for all Guyanese. His exact words were, “We are fighting for all”. Lall has been on the fore front, not only in his daily newspaper but also on his own Kaieteur Radio programme called the “Glenn Lall Show”, educating Guyanese on how they have been short-changed by the deal their government had signed with Exxon.
One of the changes, he along with the protesters, is demanding is full coverage insurance. According to Lall, Guyana right now only has limited liability insurance. Lall said multiple times on his show that this is not sufficient should an oil spill occur offshore Guyana. He noted that Liability insurance is limited meaning that Guyanese will have to accept whatever ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, EEPGL and its partners in the Stabroek Block, CNOOC and Hess Corporation can afford or choose to give, whether it be US$2B or US$1M.
Moreover, if the subsidiary cry, that it does not have sufficient money in its local accounts to foot any cost of an oil spill disaster, then there is nothing Guyana can do but indebt itself in trying to offset the impact that such a disaster can have. Guyana, according to Lall will be better off if it can secure full coverage insurance and tie ExxonMobil’s parent company, based in Texas, , to this deal so that it can step in should its subsidiary cry bankruptcy.

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