The fastest, the slowest, the weakest

Dec 22, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – When someone like Daniel Yergin speaks, people listen keenly, especially those leaders of countries with oil. Currently, he is the chairman of analytics at Standard and Poor Global. A man of tremendous prowess at an institution of lofty standing in America; it is as good a combination as anyone could expect. The fact that Dr.Yergin wrote a Pulitzer-prize winning book on oil (The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power) only burnishes his standing some more. When this author, historian, and student and teacher of oil make a statement, the world of oil respects the expertise that he brings.

Dr. Yergin said during a recent appearance on CNBC that Guyana “is the fastest offshore oil development in the history of the world.” It says something about Guyana, and this statement from Dr. Yergin, that after 125 years of offshore oil drilling beginning in California, that this country holds the honors for the “fastest offshore oil development” in history. ExxonMobil has certainly leveraged its vast knowhow and its incomparable technology to bring Guyana to this place where, as Dr. Yergin said, Guyana is now of major importance to the energy markets. He also noted that this is what has caught the attention of Venezuelan dictator, Maduro, and puts all kinds of unconstructive and covetous ideas in his head.

We fully agree with Dr. Yergin. Now, since Guyana has been producing oil for several years, and has more than doubled its production in such a short span of time, so it is reasonable to think that the Guyanese people would be among the fastest, strongest, and more prosperous people anywhere. That is, at the individual, family, and community levels. The reality could not be more contrasting. For, despite now boasting the fastest offshore oil drilling development ever, the story of Guyanese is that they still languish among the slowest and weakest.

Relative to the slowest, the ordinary Guyanese man and woman stuck on the lower levels of the economic ladder are not keeping pace with the explosive growth of their offshore oil sector. Considering the small population of this country, and the amount of oil produced by leaps and bounds, there should be no conversation here about poverty, and struggling Guyanese. There ought not be any discussion over the crush of cost-of-living, and the feeling of helplessness, it inflicts upon Guyanese supposedly standing on top of the world. And there could not be anything but contemptuous dismissal of the pittances that the government hands out to citizens as their share of the national multibillion dollar pie.

What is taking place in this fastest offshore oil developing location is more than enough to lift every Guyanese from where they and their ancestors have always lived. For the coastal and remotely located Guyanese population, it has been the grind of dirt poverty for many. Not a single Guyanese should be without enough food, not living at a standard of refinement, and the quality that goes with being the richest people on earth. But here they are, those Guyanese who still live with their perpetually punishing poverty. They are those who are not part of the charmed inner circle of a cold and selfish (and self-enriching) PPPC Government. Guyanese should be prospering now that they are creating history. But the truth is ugly and leaves huge blotches on the face of the government and its leaders. Children are malnourished, according to the findings of reviews by international bodies. Babies are still born underweight in a country that has the brightest prospects of all, but where the owners of the oil, the Guyanese people, are far from experiencing any such condition.

Dr. Daniel Yergin, like so many other foreign experts, has spoken and written powerfully about how blessed Guyana is. The concern, and it is an acutely frightening one, is why there are these significant segments in the local population who lack so much, and who live in such misery. In this time of holiday cheer, no Guyanese should be worrying about what kind of Christmas they will have. The fastest country has the slowest citizens, and too many of them don’t know what it is to truly benefit from what they own.

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and Power, Dr. Daniel Yergin, money, Standard and Poor Global, The Epic Quest for Oil

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