Oil blocks extension

Aug 30, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It is in black and white: ExxonMobil should be giving up 20 percent of 600 oil blocks in the rich Stabroek Block. This means that Guyana had to get back 120 of those 600 oil blocks in October, two months from now. The big problem is that what is on paper (the oil contract), and what is being practiced by the PPPC Government is the equivalent of the difference between night and day. When the people of this country were expecting ExxonMobil to relinquish 120 oil blocks in October, the opposite was signed and sealed: not one oil block, or one dozen, but 120 of them, because one man decided so.

Bharat Jagdeo did ExxonMobil the big favor of extending its control over the 120 blocks due to Guyana for another year. ExxonMobil gets to enjoy a free-hand studying, mapping, exploring, and assuring itself that it is worthwhile to put some money into checking out what those 120 blocks have in them. Though there might be the pretense of President Ali being involved, and the cabinet participating in the decision, this one-year extension must be called for what it definitely is. We at this publication believe that this is the result of the calculations in the head of one man, the sole handiwork of, Vice President Jagdeo. The crucial decisions in this vital oil sector have been screened, shaped, and set in motion by Jagdeo.

The record is there, and it has always been about what benefits ExxonMobil and its partners, both offshore and providing supporting products and services in Guyana and elsewhere. Then, it is what puts a feather in his cap, and makes him feel good about himself about pulling another rabbit out of his hat of maneuvers. Last, it is about what drives a shaft into every hopeful Guyanese, except for Jagdeo’s growing army of those who leech this country’s wealth nonstop. What was done with sugar and in other sectors has now taken off at an unprecedented trajectory with the massive oil wealth. The record is that if ExxonMobil wants to flare more tomorrow, the approval is as good as signed yesterday. When ExxonMobil has little use for Environmental Impact Assessments, Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency falls in line with signing on the dotted line, even though there is a book of unanswered questions about perils to Guyana’s environment and people and both for its neighbors. And when ExxonMobil fastens its eyes on a rich new oil project, then Jagdeo is a blur of motion to run with the approval to the company, as if such was its birthright and not that of the Guyanese people.

In terms of these 120 oil blocks, our position is the same as it was for the new oil projects given the green light by the PPPC Government, which means the one-man show that is Jagdeo. Get more for Guyana, Jagdeo; get as much as could be wrung from ExxonMobil’s tight fists, Jagdeo; at least, get something for Guyana, Jagdeo. Nothing would make more sense, since it is clear that the projects approved by Jagdeo in the past three years were very high priorities for ExxonMobil. This is especially so, when ExxonMobil has been bold, bright, and open enough to tell its investors and the world about how much this country’s oil means to its visions and calculations. To put its money where its mouth is, there is the proof of how much the company has adjusted its portfolio of oil assets to concentrate on extracting the most from this world-beating Guyana oil.

In each of these scenarios involving new oil projects, Jagdeo was content to get nothing from ExxonMobil, when he had the company where Guyana wanted it. Regarding the 120 oil blocks, which ExxonMobil clearly wanted badly, Jagdeo had the opportunity (again) to get more for Guyana. His position had to be that since these blocks are desired so much, make it worthwhile for Guyana. ExxonMobil must give Guyana more using the number in his same new sharing agreement. What Jagdeo did was rollover and relinquished the 120 oil blocks for nothing, but a smile and thanks from ExxonMobil. If this is not a hideous crime, it should be.

(First published on August 28, 2023)

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Editorial, extension, problem, Republished, Stabroek Block

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