H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – Ramdihal and Haynes excessively to Exxon

Nov 12, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – There is a song by John Hall & Darryl Oates that has the title ‘Somethings are better left unsaid.”  I think it’s good advice for the Ramdihal & Haynes et al audit consortium to follow.  Oftentimes, silence is the better part of wisdom.  In this matter involving raw oil production numbers, and Exxon’s putting up a steel curtain before the R&H audit group, it is my belief that the Americans were treated too gently, given too much of a friendly pat on the back.

There is agreement with not rushing to conclusions that may later prove to be unfounded, leaving a scar on reputation.  Better to say, no professional position can be taken in the absence of the raw production numbers, notwithstanding Exxon’s routing the auditors to the sales reports.  Or, that more was needed.  Or, say nothing at all; nothing that could be interpreted to the favor of Exxon, nothing that could make it look lesser in the eyes of watchers and analyzers.

When the R&H audit group reported said something to the effect of ‘having no reason to conclude that the production statements provided to government would differ from the raw measurement data utilized by Exxon for production management.’ I put on my silkiest white glove to say that (no reason is one great leap of faith by the R&H group.  It was time to bring out the Remy Martin (or Southern Comfort) in Duke Street and Texas.  The R&H people may shrink from calling a dog a dog, but I don’t.  For the record of Exxon in Guyana and elsewhere, including the United States of all places, does not induce any kind of confidence.  Whenever this superpower of a company could engage in irregular warfare, Exxon has the gumption to do exactly so.

Exxon does not produce one page of paper more than it has to, and if doing otherwise would bare its bottom.  When circumstances suit its purposes, the company would overwhelm with paper.  As a reminder, it was this same R&H audit consortium that had lamented the volume of documents that its members had to dig through, to obtain an understanding of what was going on, what Exxon was [really] up to with the Liza I and Liza 2 project expenses. Though the R&H group can’t force Exxon to deliver what was asked for, the fact that Exxon balked in presenting the production data does say a bit of a mouthful, doesn’t it?  It is where I stand.  Why go to those lengths?  Why any objection at all, when to deliver the diagram(s) would be the best testimony of Exxon’s fraternal relationship with Guyana?  I appreciate that for some members of the human species business doesn’t have family, but it is put on the buffet table. My fellow Guyanese are free to pick-up a piece of Exxon to savor or spit out.

Still, in fairness, it is important to appreciate what the agreement requires.  Annex C, page 17, Section 5 (Production Statement) (a)-(j) specifies what Exxon has to provide monthly to the minister.  This was where the R&H team ought to have directed its attention, as the documents were there, as delivered by Exxon. Now, R&H could have had an interest to inspect closer, and reconcile more deeply, what Exxon has in-house versus what is given to the Ministry of Natural Resources (minister) monthly. What I am concerned about is why Exxon reacted so firmly, to the point of immovability.  When the Exxon(s) of the world do so, it is usually not for the better.  Because there is the record of Exxon’s own studies and convictions about fossils and climate change held close to the chest, and then there are its public pronouncements that were on a different plane and planet.  Put simply, the twain failed to meet.  My bottom-line belief is straightforward: any item in any form that has the potential, however limited, to put a dent on Exxon claims to accuracy and integrity, the company will guard fiercely.  Thus, the kind of digging and comparing that leads to reassuring reconciliation is thwarted.

In further substantiation of its having ‘no reason to conclude’ position, R&H pointed to the presence of Government of Guyana assigned ‘personnel at calibrations and offloads’ and their being ‘fully aware of all measuring points.’  I take the liberty of reintroducing a fine Guyanese presence by the name of Mr. Bobby (soon to be Dr.) Gossai to the R&H audit consortium.  He certainly did justice by the Guyanese people.  He was so good at his trade that even the Exxon’s Mr. Routledge, descended from his imperialist throne (I am beginning to sound like Cheddi and Forbes [and Maduro]) and make a spirited plea for mitigation for Mr. Gossai.  I am still trying to figure out who he worked for the most, who and what are his first loves.  The things that multinationals do, and the things that they get away with, could fill up a new Encyclopedia Britannica.  On Guyana only. I said it before: R&H did some decent work with the US$7.3 billion audit.  Yes, there were areas bypassed, and judgment calls that had to be made.  On its comment involving the raw production data and that gadgetry about sales reports, it didn’t.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• agreement, Americans, consortium, John Hall & Darryl Oates, Ramdihal and Haynes

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