Extension for ExxonMobil, no concessions for Guyana

Jun 28, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Everyone knew it. ExxonMobil was going to be given an extension of the 20% of the Stabroek Block that it was scheduled to relinquish later this year. The company gets an extension, but Guyana gets no concession. ExxonMobil gets high, Guyanese get hell. Everything that the PPPC Government does benefits ExxonMobil in some significant way, but damages Guyana’s hopes at the same time.

Clearly, neither President Ali, nor Vice President Jagdeo, nor Opposition Leader Norton appreciate how destructive their postures and decisions are to the interests of the Guyanese people. ExxonMobil’s Alistair Routledge told the world about how challenging it would be for his company to shell out a few dollars more to Guyana, but he has succeeded in obtaining this extension of time for the Stabroek Block. With the additional time, ExxonMobil races ahead with its exploration programme to discover and then drain every drop of oil in the rich Stabroek Block. ExxonMobil is looking for any advantage to fill its pockets, but Guyana’s political leaders are shrinking from standing up to the American company and use the bargaining chips they have in their hands.

The relinquishment that is so against ExxonMobil’s interests, visions, and calculations has to be worth something, possibly very much. The fact that ExxonMobil and Alistair Routledge worked doggedly and slickly to get that extension of time ought to inform the Government of Guyana, and the Guyanese people, that by ExxonMobil’s studies, and from the company’s experience, the odds are very high that there are many more billions of barrels of oil equivalents lying beneath the seabed, and are just waiting to be found. It is not a stretch by any standard to conclude that ExxonMobil’s world-class experts already knew so, which is why the company wanted the extension of time, and which the Government of Guyana was only too glad to deliver.

How much better it could have been for Guyana if the Government, the President, and the Vice President, with an able assist from the Opposition Leader, had used the extension coveted by ExxonMobil to extract some better terms for Guyana. Such an action, such determination, by the Guyana Government would have served two purposes. First, it would indicate just how much the extension is worth to ExxonMobil, viz., what price it was willing to pay to get what it wanted. And second, it would have been a rare instance of the PPPC Government manifesting its resolve and readiness to stand up to ExxonMobil, stare it down, and strike some deal that gives this country more than it is currently getting through the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement for the vast Stabroek Block.

It was either the company will pay, or the Guyana Government will stay with the relinquishment provision. As has been the case pitting ExxonMobil on one side of the discussion table, and Guyanese politicians on the other, our leaders have wimped out and rolled over, while ExxonMobil has won out and walked all over them and, by extension, every Guyanese. When we have ExxonMobil and its guileful Guyana Country Head, Mr. Alistair Routledge where we want both, in a corner, either the President or the Vice President (or all two of them) steps back and relieve the pressure that we can apply to the oil supergiant. When we need the Opposition Leader to signal his steeliness and show his strength on matters of this significance, he is content to make it his priority to be “wukking pon” the chairwoman of GECOM. The Opposition is trapped in the past, while Guyana’s oil future is in jeopardy in the hands of the PPP/C Government.

Now that ExxonMobil has overcome the time barrier, thanks to our dreadful and disastrous politicians, it is almost guaranteed that at least one of the new wells to be drilled will result in another huge oil payload. What we didn’t know before, we will know then, compliments of crafty ExxonMobil. The one-year extension would have paid handsome dividends, and the production calendar gains a few more years to drain every spot of oil from the new project[s].

This is how the nation’s patrimony is managed by the PPP/C Government. We get a trump, and ExxonMobil is given a big bump.

ExxonMobil, Guyana’s, nor Vice President Jagdeo, President Ali, Stabroek Block

Latest News

Extension for ExxonMobil, no concessions for Guyana

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 7th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Moo sponsored National Junior’s Squash C/ship eying exciting...

BK Group remains supportive of Bartica Easter...

GFF-Blue Water Shipping National U15 Secondary...

Elite League action returns to NTC this weekend

Two more young cricketers benefit from Project...

NSC receives sports uniforms from D8Door &...

Features/Columnists

Protest against Commissioner of Information continues today

The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation

The not invisible US hand

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Extension for ExxonMobil, no concessions for Guyana

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 7th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]