Maintaining loopholes and weaknesses

Dec 10, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – This is where the best and the worst in an oil company come out. Loopholes in existing agreements and weaknesses in a country’s legislative framework are enticing areas for oil companies to examine for openings to take advantage of, and then use cooperative local political leaders to help them flourish still more.

A first objective of oil companies is to keep the bulk of spending concealed, and employ a range of tricks to mislead oil producing nations. A second is to do everything to keep host countries from knowing what is going on, particularly as it relates to billions in spending. In brief, this is what the watchdog group, Oxfam America, warns Guyana’s leaders about (“Int’l group urges Guyana to plug loopholes for abuse between Oil Companies and Sub-Contractors” (KN December 03). Something tells us that this well-meaning warning falls on deaf ears in Guyana.

Guyanese learn about a succession of contracts being signed by ExxonMobil with several sub-contractors for various items, including pipelines, cables, chemicals, and countless other pieces of oil operations ingredients. Amazingly, ExxonMobil has moved ahead to ink some of these contracts even before the approval of the Government of Guyana has been granted. Many millions of US dollars are committed to against our name, with our oil output as the guarantee. Our leaders should be most vigilant and aggressive in standing against such subcontracting arrangements, but no leader in the PPPC Government has uttered a single word of objection.

Instead of being alert to the games and guile that companies like ExxonMobil have a long history of employing, leaders in the PPPC Government are much tighter with the company, than with the Guyanese people and their needs. Rather than being closer to the interests of Guyana, every indication is that our own political leaders are closest to the visions and interests of ExxonMobil and its partners. With such attitudes and inclinations, any loopholes closed in the existing agreement Guyana has with ExxonMobil would be negligible ones. This is not just the mindset and handiwork of our political leaders, but of our national institutions with the greatest current sensitivity, the most crucial role to play in our new, growing oil sector.

Thanks to the PPPC Government, Guyana now has an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that ought to be a sharp and smart watchdog, only for it to be converted to a sleeping dog that refuses to stir itself into any action that benefits this country. Guyana’s EPA is not just a loophole, it is a big black hole, through which ExxonMobil drives barges and tankers at high rates of speed, and without any speed bumps to slowdown its mad rush. Rather than look diligently for weaknesses in what we have, such as our systems and resources, we make it our duty to overlook them. To be frank, confirmations come daily as to how our government and our institutions work hand in hand with ExxonMobil in what is encouraged. Produce more, monitor less, and know almost nothing about what is taking place in those offshore oilfields. In so doing, the green light is given to ExxonMobil to do as it pleases, and it is only too glad to follow through to its advantage.

People who know what has happened (Oxfam America), regarding what oil companies have done (like Ghana) repeatedly sound the alarm for other countries (like Guyana) to tighten up on laws, institutions, and other protective apparatus that lead to a better understanding of the tricks and schemes that oil companies’ use, and to identify weak spots and correct them. We don’t have the fullest awareness of which sub-contractors could be in cahoots with ExxonMobil to stick it to Guyana, and rip-off this country already being robbed blind. Interestingly, Guyana has a multibillion-dollar audit exercise underway, and the people that should be digging deeply to determine if, how, and how much Guyana has been cheated is coming out on the side of ExxonMobil. When critical thinking and a healthy dose of skepticism are called for, there is what boosts the confidence of ExxonMobil, and comforts its top people. Loopholes and weaknesses in Guyana are safe; when the PPPC Government should be working overtime to closing them, it opens them wider.