Exxon v. Chevron – brawling over beautiful Guyana

Mar 03, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

---

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – The times really don’t change, and now it is history straining at the collar to repeat itself.  I feel like this is a journey back in time.  Today it is Exxon and Chevron.  Way back in the 80s, it was Pennzoil and Texaco.  Just like today, it is about who could do what, and who shouldn’t have done what they did.  The players are different but, as is customary in the freewheeling oil business, the egos are even bigger than before.  It always seems to come down to this: who could sprinkle the wind and the ground the farthest.

During the early days of the dogfight that was Pennzoil v. Texaco, which ended up with an award of US$0.53B and a bankruptcy.  See any Texaco gas station in any recent travels?  I was a green newcomer in a sea of Wall Street blue, with a dash of austere grey here and there.  In the middle of the battle of Texaco versus Pennzoil that raged from Delaware to DC to downhome in good ole boy country Texas, there was another American legend of yore: Getty Oil.  It is a family best whispered in hushed tones.  Today, in what is shaping up to be Exxon v. Chevron, there is the Hess Corporation, and the Hess family.  I do miss Uncle John Hess (he would have already bragged about how many billions of barrels of new oil have been found).  Forget about Exxon chief propagandist and apologist, the Hon. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and his spiel about priority and focus, and the constraints of time, Uncle John would have found the time and place to let loose.

So here we are, with Exxon and Chevron about to do battle for a piece of Guyana, like the Greeks and Trojans over Helen, but this one is with the strangest of twists.  From the early indications, America’s Exxon has China’s CNOOC right by its side.  Jesus Christ! Is the world coming to an end?  Is this a thaw in Sino-Yankee relations?  The commerce of oil certainty takes precedence over the visions and wargames of the State Department and the Department of Defense.  Pardon me for forgetting the White House, but that is only when President Joe Biden remembers that it is the 21^st century, and that he is the Chief Executive, and not George Washington.

It was Gordon Gekko (Micheal Douglas) who said that ‘greed is good.’  Right on! Brother.  It looks that Chief Darren Woods heard him all the way in Spring, Texas.  Why share the wealth of Guyana with a competitor?  It does not matter that Chevron and CEO Steven Wirth are as American as God, mother, country, and apple pie.  To those who object to the paramount place that I gave to the divine powers, an apology is tendered.  Here is the first and final analysis, and it is one that needs neither charts nor graphs: Guyana’s oilfields are too sweet, too rich, too lusciously delicious to share even with another American oil giant.  What, and dilute the spoils?  The oil business is not for missionaries, and the likes of Darren Woods (sorry, Mistah Woods) do not welcome strangers into their patch, and take no prisoners during the march.  Even when a descendant of the old Standard Oil is involved.  Fraternity loses to money.

Here is a thought-a hard truth-for my fellow citizens to weigh and come to their own conclusions: if Exxon could be gearing up for war against a fellow American corporate hustler, then what it would not to do to poor colored Guyanese.  Here is another hard and bitter bite: if moves are in the making to crush Chevron and CEO Wirth, then what about poor ole Dr. Irfaan Ali and Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.  Just so that he doesn’t feel slighted, I throw Dr. Aubrey Norton headfirst into the mix.  When I call Exxon a voracious predator, many folks think that it is a word too harsh.  I am still trying to figure out which one is found offensive: voracious or predator.  For the doubtful, the expense for a ticket on American Airlines to Texas could be saved.  For there is Exxon’s resident lead headhunter in technicolor pointing to neon billboards, and how good the company of John D. Rockefeller has been to Guyanese.  Perhaps living on their knees on new roads, and dragging their behinds across modern bridges, is what meets Exxon’s definition of what is good.  Yeah, God did create the world, and it was he himself who said it was good (refer to Genesis in the Old Testament).  Now check what has happened since then, with Exxon now fully in command in Guyana, while President Ali still believes in the mirage that it is he who is the magnificent one.

Today Exxon controls all of Guyana, but there is still a nagging issue that sticks like a chicken foot bone in its throat.  There are the Chinese.  Remember I said this in 2024: Exxon wants the whole show, lock, stock, block, and every barrel (disclosed or concealed).  Ignore all the noise, it already owns Guyana’s executive, owns Guyana’s legislature, owns Guyana’s tribunes (enough of them), and it has its heart set on owning all the Stabroek Block.  Mr. CNOOC (Xi Jinping) had better look out, for the master visionary and maneuverer, Mr. Woods is lining up for the kill next.  Today, China is America’s Exxon ally against another storied American entity.  Tomorrow it is going to be a different story.  Guyana is part of the credits when the motion picture is over.

(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.)

---

• brawling, Chevron, Exxon, Pennzoil, Texaco

---