Oil verification leads to national satisfaction

Jul 19, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – We know that we have oil offshore by the billions of barrels. But we really don’t know how much we have, or how much more is there, as gathered by the exploration studies conducted by ExxonMobil. We don’t know how much the American oil company has pumped out and shipped away. All we have is what ExxonMobil has released to us. This is what leaders in this PPP/C Government are happy to accept, comfortable in continuing.

Small groups of Guyanese are not taking this ugly state of affairs sitting down. Most times they are in the streets with their placards, other times, they are in the papers and radio calling for a change with what currently exists. More Guyanese want confirmation of what is going on with our wealth. The only way that the kind of trusted confirmation can be had is if we have a mechanism in place for verification of what ExxonMobil does, which will then bring us to a place of national satisfaction.

Verification by ourselves, or people appointed by us because they are trusted by us, covers much ground. It is how much is found, how much comes up, and how much is shipped away. Verification is more than how much is the quantity of oil that is out there in the oilfields. It is of the quality of the oil in those fields and blocks and wells that all belong to us. We need to know, but we don’t with any confidence, given the largely untrusted source of the information that comes to us.

That source is ExxonMobil, and since it has compiled a record of dealing damagingly with us, and is all about constantly improving its own interests, we at this newspaper do not trust ExxonMobil, or any of its people, to do what is right by us. If the opportunity is there for the company to cheat this country some more, then Guyanese can bet their last dollar that the company will cheat us for every penny that it can squeeze out of us. Thus, we must put ourselves in a position to verify what is there, what leaves, and what that leaves us with, when all the figures are compiled.

The quality of the oil has something to do with what comes to us as our share of the deal. The higher the quality of the oil, the better our chances of getting an above average price in the very sophisticated and cutthroat oil markets. From the days of its inception, oil has been a cutthroat business, with oil companies plundering nations, national leaders robbing citizens, and the companies emerging as the biggest winners by any measurement. Guyana started out as a tenderfoot in the oil business, and today it is still flatfooted and largely clueless of what it has, and where it stands.

It is the height of folly, disgraceful leadership folly, for this country to depend on ExxonMobil for the facts and figures of its oil asset. In fact, it would be accurate to say that we could be standing right there on those rigs and platforms, staring at the consoles, reading the reports, and not knowing that we are being given a song and dance, and led down the wrong road. This is how clever ExxonMobil is at this scheming and backstabbing oil business, and it comes from long experience.

We must have our own people, our own expert reviewers, our own monitoring systems, and our own reports, as overseen by us. It is long past the time for this glaring weakness and exposure to be allowed to go on, while our leaders drag their feet, and lie to us. As the street protestors insist, we must be responsible for our own verification. Separately, neighbouring Suriname started out later than us in the oil game, and verifying for itself was made the highest priority. Depending on the foreign operators is like putting cash in a man’s hand for transacting some business or depositing in the bank, and never checking for self to determine that either was done.

Leaders in the PPP/C Government trust ExxonMobil, then ask us to trust both of them. Verify and notify us first, then we go from there.

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Oil verification leads to national satisfaction

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