Nothing more for Guyana from ExxonMobil

May 22, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – “This is the most valuable contract the country has and it should be focused on how we make it work the best we can. I think that is what the government is doing, it is saying let’s make sure we attract the investment. The moment we try to change the contract the investment will stop….”

The speaker is Mr. Alistair Routledge, President of Exxon Guyana, and what is extraordinary about that statement is that he has incorporated “we” into his May 19 Declaration. For clarity “how WE make it work” and “let’s make sure WE attract the investment.” Most obviously, Mr. Routledge is trying all his sales tricks, and drawing Guyanese into his snare. We at this publication must make something clear: once there are those lopsided, one-sided, and distorted sided terms and conditions in the existing 2016 oil contract, there is NO WE in it. Because Guyanese are left out of the gorgeous returns that accrue to ExxonMobil and only ExxonMobil.

Indeed, Guyana gets something, but by any authentic money comparison, the owners of this wealth (we, the Guyanese people) are not even close to where ExxonMobil is relative to collections from this national oil patrimony. So, the first thing that we recommend to President Routledge is that he be honest, come clean, make a genuine effort to correct the glaring imbalances in this vile contractual concoction, and then he and we can start talking about this business involving “WE.” Please do not try to insult us further by wooing with words (like WE) that have no meaning for Guyanese.

President Routledge said that “we try to change the contract, the investment will stop.” How so, Mr. Routledge, when 25% of ExxonMobil’s production is generated by Guyana’s rich oilfields? What sort of cheap magician’s trick, hollow verbal threat, is that Mr. Routledge, when the only objective is to tilt the contract scales slightly to the Guyana side, and not to gain financial parity with ExxonMobil? How can relatively small changes in the contract, like ring-fencing, like some percentage points more of royalty, like some taxes paid by ExxonMobil will bring the “investment” to a grinding halt? Enough games have been played with the Guyanese people, so it is advisable that the same be discontinued.

Mr. Routledge also said, “This agreement was competitive at the time that we signed it and we still believe it to be the case, and we have made investment on the basis of the contract as it stands.” With respect President Routledge, a root canal is recommended for the nerve in that statement is exposed. It has no teeth; save for the pain that it inflicts on this country. We invite Mr. Routledge to assist us with another oil contract from anywhere in the world, including that of his competitors, where not a single dime of corporate taxes is paid to the host country. Unless he can furnish us with such evidence, which is highly doubtful, then no one, not Alistair Routledge, not Darren woods, not the American Ambassador, not the business aligned and business-oriented Wall Street Journal can assert with any accuracy (or honesty) that “This agreement was competitive….” And this is looking at only a single egregious provision of the contract. In fact, when the cascade of conditions, that cripple economically the hopes of Guyanese, are considered, this is the ultimate in noncompetitive contracts.

The agreement/contract was executed when there was approximately 1.1 billion barrels of oil equivalents. Now, that has expanded by 10 billion barrels to 11 billion, but Mr. Routledge is now slick enough to insert jargon like “maximize the value” and dangle the subtle carrot of “future contracts.” He smartly surrounds the deformed 2016 contract with these platitudes in an effort to mislead Guyanese by distracting them.

Last, per Mr. Routledge, “This is the most valuable contract this country has…” In terms of overall dollar value, he is correct, but not relative to the value that Guyana gets from it. It does not compensate for the volume of oil pumped daily. This contract is piracy on the high seas, and it must be changed, so that Guyana gets what is fair. All we demand is what is fair, nothing else.

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Alistair Routledge, Editorial, ExxonMobil

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