Exxon’s hollow insurance hedges

Mar 06, 2022 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Encouraging Events, Disturbing Developments…

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – This is what Exxon’s local headman said about full insurance coverage for Guyana should an oil spill occur here: “We have the financial capacity to meet our responsibilities for an adverse event and we are committed to paying all legitimate costs in the unlikely event of an oil spill.”What this man said is so disturbing that I counter in the starkest black and white terms to fellow Guyanese to emphasise how these 21st century enslavers think of, and look down upon, Guyanese.
Imperialist Alistair Routledge, Exxon’s Guyana’s Viceroy, was talking down to Guyanese in the time-honoured manner of those thinking themselves superior to coloured people. According to Herr Routledge, “we have the financial capacity to meet our responsibilities” then dammit sir, stop talking, start stepping up, and delivering the amount of insurance coverage (full) that gives Guyanese a survival lifeline if an oil spill occurs. Why the delaying and distancing?
Coloniser Routledge then spoke of “adverse event” which is already happening, with gas flaring into the atmosphere and poisoning of it, from his company’s offshore operations. He makes “adverse event” sound like a ‘Black Swan’ moment, that is, something that only occurs every 10,000 years, and only after a perfect alignment of all the dark stars. Guyana could be the society unlikely to be decimated by an oil spill Black Swan representing such an event. He does not soothe with self-serving blabber about “adverse event.”
Next, Exxon’s locally entrenched exploiter, continued with classic corporate chatter, and the now traditional protective with the hedging language of “legitimate costs.” To enlighten my fellow Guyanese (Americans, too), the catch in that hedge of “legitimate costs” is that it is Exxon that determines what is “legitimate” and what is not. Under that seemingly innocent umbrella, the thickest of corporate camouflages, stands the mechanism to cheat those devastated by an oil spill.
Exxon has taken sleazy advantage of the court system, the corridors of Congress, the channels of the media, and even the confines of the White House to get its way. For the untutored, I offer the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and how Exxon marshalled its powers to whittle away at the billions in damages initially awarded until the pittance that resulted became an American joke.
Guyanese be forewarned, Exxon is not a legitimate oil operator where truth, fairness, justice, and the interests of host countries are concerned. What it terms “legitimate costs” was what was delivered to red blooded white Americans in Alaska, they were not Eskimos, who hardly count. What Exxon sought to minimise through deception over the Arthur Kills (New York-New Jersey) spill is another example. How Exxon had the fiercest resistance to shelling out cash that is due, is further confirmed by its not joining with Chevron and others to pay its fair share of decommissioning Fieldwood wells in America. When Exxon fights to the death, distances from its responsibilities in America, then it is certain what it would do here, should a major oil spill occur. There should not be a speck of doubt, regarding how it would deal with largely functionally illiterate and impotent Guyanese (political leaders and people). Exxon will not pay. Exxon will delay and drag out. Exxon will pull every trick to minimise its financial obligations. That is guaranteed.
Finally, to top off his performance, this maestro of misstatement, Routledge, seeks to give reassurance to naïve and gullible Guyanese, via Exxon’s posture of the “unlikely event” of an oil spill. Exxon Valdez was unlikely also. Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico was unlikely, too. Incidentally, oil ‘spill’ is the worst understatement heard since a major one is usually like a tsunami in action. Think of this also Guyanese; air travel is statistically considered the safest form of transportation, meaning, ‘unlikely’ to occur. Try telling that to the dead and their grieving families when a plane crashes. Guyana could be the unfortunate victim and statistic if Exxon is allowed to get away with this foolishness and craftiness.
When Routledge and Exxon must be honest with Guyanese, both resorted to hedges, shadiness, and what protects the company’s profitability. Guyanese better get serious with this predator of a company.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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Exxon’s hollow insurance hedges

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