Latest update August 23rd, 2026 10:28 AM
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Meter Madness
Kaieteur News – In another country there would already have been riots in the street. If parking meters in Guyana could have promoted the ruckus that it did, then the absence of meters at ExxonMobil’s production points should have resulted in pitched battles in the local environment since so much more is at stake. To clarify, there must be Guyanese owned oil meters overseen by Guyanese and its full details documented by Guyanese. It is inconceivable that Guyana’s leading oil champion, Bharrat Jagdeo, is so timid about these meters. Oil meters at ExxonMobil’s offshore production sites must be a priority if this country is to know what is happening with its wealth. The question is what game is Jagdeo up to when he drags his feet on oil meters.
The plan to install parking meters in the city created an uproar, due to the pricing being wrong. Guyanese had no time about much-needed order restored in the busy city, which was and is, a free-for-all. Yet today, when a great shout and a big push should be made for meters at the ExxonMobil production sites, there is little interest in Guyanese about what means so much more. It is a clearcut instance of a penny wise and a pound foolish. Many millions of such pounds, considering what could be draining away right under the eyes of locals.
The first clue is that Jagdeo has not come forward with determination and conviction to get oil meters at the present metering points on the oil ships. Long experience has taught Guyanese that when Jagdeo starts to hopscotch around an issue, then he is up to something. This has mostly proven to be what is not to the benefit of Guyanese. Oil meters are not that expensive, and even if they were many times what they cost, Guyana still needs them, must have them. Further, oil meters are not that scarce to obtain where Guyana has to place an order for them and join a long waiting line. The bottom line is that they are readily available and are worth every cent spent to obtain them. The fact that Jagdeo has been asleep at the wheel with oil meters gives some indication of how much he has been suctioned into ExxonMobil’s orbit. He gets vacuumed up by ExxonMobil, and Guyana is the loser for it. Because as Jagdeo goes, so does President Ali, with Guyanese not clear about who is leading whom. It certainly is a mystery why obtaining oil meters and putting them to watch for our interests is such a demanding undertaking for Jagdeo and the PPPC Government. Unconsciously or not, it is ExxonMobil itself that has helped to unravel the oil meter mystery.
The second clue is the giveaway, and it is all ExxonMobil’s doing. Auditors were told that it is not their business to know the location of the company’s oil meters on the Lisa Destiny ship. ExxonMobil’s personnel were like the Roman dog, Cerberus, who was given the duty of guarding the gates of hell. Nobody passed beyond that point. No Guyanese, that is; no snooper nor spook who could see too much to the company’s disadvantage. It is hard to believe that ExxonMobil’s oil meters are syphilis infected, or that they are carrying some strain of a lethally contagious virus. The company’s reflexive, dogged blocking action to thwart Guyana’s auditors from even accessing raw production data has a peculiar smell about it. It is not that of a partner that could be trusted. Why can’t Guyana see that data set? What is there to hide from the owners of this great wealth?
For a man as sharp as Jagdeo, one over who no one pulls a fast one, it is amazing that he is so mum when ExxonMobil makes mincemeat of this company-country business partnership. We want to know how many barrels of oil ExxonMobil is producing daily. ExxonMobil should want Guyana to know. Jagdeo should want to know. Meters of our own must be the way, and that should be in the shortest time possible. Jagdeo must be able to deliver meters, so that Guyana knows how much oil is produced, and how much Guyana may have been cheated.
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