Oil companies propagandize and lobby, little else

Sep 17, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It is said that the proof is in the pudding, and that fact always triumphs over fiction. Nobody could talk more than the leaders of major oil companies about how well they mean with respect to climate change and standing for the kinds of activities that lead to a safer planet. Unfortunately, their words meant to inspire confidence are really more devoted to camouflage where their hearts really are. It is called the bottom line of returns and profits, to keep their investors drooling, their boards of directors happy, and the environmental hounds off their backs.

This is what came to light in “Exxon, other oil majors spending millions on ‘green PR’, but give pittance to low-carbon activities -Int’l Report” (KN September 9). Talk is cheap, and it is the best investment that could be made in the climate change game. In total, five of the big oil companies spent about three quarters of a billion dollars to sell their noble intentions on climate change. They are serial deceivers of the first order, with their actions a far cry from their words, definitely not their spending in the kind of activities that would support their PR positions. ExxonMobil is right there in the mix, if not leading the way in this saying one thing for public consumption, while doing the opposite behind the scenes.

Spending solid money, meaningful money, on low-carbon activities would confirm, beyond question, the seriousness and sincerity of oil companies. The oil companies have not done so, and when such gimmickries are present, Guyanese can be assured that ExxonMobil is right in the midst of the slick corporate babblings. The facts are clear in that ExxonMobil and others have preferred to set aside and spend hundreds of millions for PR programmes that furnish smooth covers for their real climate change objectives. At its core, this has to do with what is an ongoing non emphasis on low-carbon activities in their portfolio of operations. The truth is that the same five companies are identifying only 12 percent of their capital expenditure on low-carbon activities, which could over time make a dent to the dangers facing the world today. Put differently, for every dollar spent on low-carbon activities, there are about eight and a half dollars spent on fossil fuel operations and, hence, continuing the damage to environment and atmosphere.

When ExxonMobil had to put its money where its mouth is, the leaders of the company ended up spitting all over themselves. This is how they embarrass themselves, and show what they are really about where climate change is concerned. In the heads of the likes of Darren Woods (ExxonMobil) and Bernard Looney (BP) spending on skillful public relations gives a better bang for the dollar, and pulls the wool over the eyes of many people. BP itself, which renamed itself from British Petroleum, as part of its reimaging itself as ‘Beyond Petroleum’ is part of the shell games, and con games, played by the oil masters. Along the same lines, the oil supermajors spend a good bundle on lobbying in nonstop efforts to twist the arms of lawmakers to give them breaks by delaying or watering down laws that could hold them to a higher standard.

In this regard, Guyana has turned out to be a boon for ExxonMobil and its partners. The PPP/C Government has been reduced to the state of a bystander with minimal say and influence in how this nation’s oil sector is being run. Guyanese are party to excess flaring into the atmosphere, and fall for any poppycock from ExxonMobil about a failed gas compressor that takes forever to fix. All the while, the PPP/C Government greenlights more production, and stands at the ready to approve project after project to come onstream for more fossil fuel production. This country is not yet in a position to ensure the appropriate balancing of pumping, conserving, and protecting the environment, but goes along docilely.

Like ExxonMobil and others, the PPP/C Government is more consumed by public relations than in protective activities that could make some little difference. Public relations work for a while in delivering propaganda value, and then such priorities come apart when reconciled with conflicting actions.

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Oil companies propagandize and lobby, little else

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