Oil company goodwill

Mar 22, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Vice President Bharat Jagdeo is now confident in the goodwill of foreign oil companies, none more than ExxonMobil. Guyana’s Vice President must be the toast of the corporate cowboys of ExxonMobil, with the red carpet rolled out in the customary Texas way to fill his head with ideas as to his worthiness to the company. When a Guyanese oil leader could speak about his expectation of goodwill from oil companies, especially one such as ExxonMobil, then he has broken new ground, taken a plunge that drags this country down with him, and from which it may never recover.

Vice President Jagdeo is nobody’s dummy, so it is a mystery as to how and why he could come up with this incredible trust in the goodwill of ExxonMobil. It does not matter whether the issue at hand is about full liability coverage (proper insurance protection) in the event of a massive oil spill, or an increase in royalty that an honest partner would consider, actually agree to without effort, considering how much they are getting, how little they would lose in the bigger picture, or an openness to sharing the details of all expenses related to the company’s operations in Guyana. The bottom line is that whatever the issue on the table, Jagdeo knows better, is much wiser, than to put himself and this country in this pathetic state, where Guyana is reduced to hoping and begging for favours from ExxonMobil. Vice President Jagdeo’s expecting goodwill from ExxonMobil amounts to such pleading on his knees, to put matters bluntly.

The fact is that ExxonMobil specifically, and oil companies in general, is the worst of the worst, where crippling corporate excesses and predatory practices are concerned. A naïve and ill-equipped country like Guyana is putty in ExxonMobil’s hands, a heavily laden tree ripe for the shaking and plucking. A leader like Jagdeo is dough in the hands of the likes of Darren Woods and Alistair Routledge, who know how either to turn on the charm, or to tighten the screws on people like him. They have studied him and if they have grounds that he has given them to corner him and tie him up into knots, then it is as good as done, and without a second thought. It is all about voracious business and making the most money overnight.

This is the sordid history of ExxonMobil in almost the entirety of its corporate existence. Before it was ordered to be broken up by the US Supreme Court in 1911, Standard Oil had compiled a long and ugly record of secret dealing, cutthroat pricing, and double dealing. What became Standard Oil of New Jersey is today’s ExxonMobil, which is utterly worse than the now long forgotten parent. For Jagdeo to depend on goodwill from ExxonMobil indicates that he is either cracking at the seams, or has already lost touch with reality. At the least, he is in the dark, or pretending to be, regarding how ExxonMobil operates, what its people live to breathe, what its ravenous culture is, when closely examined.

ExxonMobil is about what is murderous to the hopes and interests of new and unready oil producing countries like Guyana. ExxonMobil, and its peers in the United States and Europe, is especially conspicuous for another quality in the conduct of their worldwide operations. It is about what is devastating and deadly to countries that are populated by people who are mainly dark-skinned and clueless about the ways of oil companies. There is the ongoing litany of countries in the Third World that are damaged even further by leaders who themselves match the American corporate anaconda with their own endless greed. The result is that which has destroyed many societies blessed with oil in abundance. Anyone taking an honest and open-minded look at Guyana should be able to see that this is the present and future road.

Instead of the most powerful leader in Guyana speaking with passion and conviction about getting more out of ExxonMobil, Jagdeo is talking about, begging for, goodwill from ExxonMobil. Instead of standing up to fight for Guyana, Jagdeo bends his knees before ExxonMobil. Good luck, Mr. Jagdeo, on this cry for goodwill from the company.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Bharat Jagdeo, ExxonMobil, Guyanese, oil, Vice President

Latest News