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US$2B guarantee mystery

Jan 21, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Guyanese have watched openmouthed at Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s chief oilman and now chief policymaker, going around in circles on anything and all things that pose a problem to ExxonMobil’s interests.  Citizens have been treated to the mystery of Jagdeo doing his best to be what he is not, viz., a man lacking in understanding, a leader who doesn’t know what he is about.  He did it for ExxonMobil on many occasions and for many issues with this oil that now means so much for the Guyana economy and, more importantly, Guyanese.  Bharrat Jagdeo did it, was a tower of strength, for ExxonMobil with regard to the full parent guarantee that the Guyanese people need if there is a devastating oil spill offshore.

It was Jagdeo, who put forward and insisted that a US$2 billion guarantee from ExxonMobil could be had.  Jagdeo was the one who took the lead and stood tall for the US$2 billion cap, in that it would be worthwhile, would foot the bill in the event that there is a damaging oil spill.  In the tortured twists and turns over a full parent company guarantee from ExxonMobil, that which was whittled down to US$2 billion by some mystery formula, it is now the turn of the oil behemoth to add to the deceptions that have plagued the calls for this guarantee from the inception.  To paraphrase astronaut John L Swigert’s immortal words: ‘Georgetown, we have a problem…’  It is more accurate to say that ‘Guyana has had a problem from the beginning with first obtaining the full parent company guarantee, which was dead in the water, and now even this US$2 billion parent guarantee of coverage if there is a leak, blowout, or spill of alarming magnitude.

It is all unfolding before the Court of Appeal, and in full public view.  The Guyana Government is contesting the order of the court to produce the evidence of the US$2 billion guarantee from ExxonMobil.  The guarantee document cannot and will not be produced, as Guyana’s court doesn’t have jurisdiction.  This is beyond belief: the Guyana Government is handcuffed, the Guyana parliament is powerless, and now a senior court in Guyana is devoid of jurisdiction in the production of a binding document that evidences what Bharrat Jagdeo and ExxonMobil have been selling all along.  Where is the problem with something that is simplicity itself?  What could be the problem that stands in sturdy defiance on the delivery of evidence about the US$2 billion that the government of the Guyanese people and the American company both said was the best thing for this country?

What could ExxonMobil be up to, what kind of low trick in its arsenal, that prevents it from presenting to Guyanese (and the world) that its commitment is intact, and that Guyana has had this US$2 billion in operation.  The objection and failure by ExxonMobil, with the complete corroboration of the PPP/C Government, to step forward and hand over the binding guarantee document has all that is ominous about it.  But it also signifies something else.  That is, while ExxonMobil is ramping up daily oil production in its Guyana oilfields at breakneck speed, there is no financial coverage, no financial protection blanket, of any sort.

There is little to no room left for any other interpretation of how Guyana is dangerously exposed at this time.  This country is naked and vulnerable, thanks to the seeming caprices of ExxonMobil, and this is what Jagdeo bends his back to, is the picture of unconcern. The PPPC Government and the oil company have been secretive on expenses, on interest rates, and with new oil discovery data.  Still, we would not have believed that the production of evidence on the US$2 billion parent company guarantee would also be classified information, meaning that it must be kept a secret.  The question now for Guyanese is whether such a guarantee document actually exists.

This oil patrimony had all the ingredients to be a boon without equal for Guyanese.  Most harrowingly, in the hands of Jagdeo and ExxonMobil, it has turned out to be a battering ram to beat Guyanese into abject surrender.  The secrecy over the US$2 billion parent guarantee is the latest proof.

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