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CCJ ruling

May 19, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – A three-member panel of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled that the Government of Guyana can join as a party with ExxonMobil in its fight against the Guyanese people for an unlimited parent company guarantee should an oil spill occur.  It could be for a huge one that quickly absorbs any existing insurance coverage and the like, or a series of other ones that add up to the same result.  Either way, Guyana’s environment, the way of life for many Guyanese, or the national economy could all be severely impacted.  This gravity of the impacts on any aspect of things Guyana depends on the extent of any spill that occurs.

The CCJ laid out is reasoning and it has its merits.  The government is a party to the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement with ExxonMobil, so it can be added.  It is moot whether Guyanese agree with this ruling or not, for it has been handed down, and now go into effect.  Without a doubt, using the same CCJ’s ruling, this clears the way for the government to join on the side of ExxonMobil against the Guyanese people with respect to all actions brought by Guyanese, as they relate to this oil wealth. To pursue this to its logical conclusion, the government is incentivized to join with ExxonMobil on the one hand, and ExxonMobil is free to insert itself, on the other, in any oil matter escalated to the court for relief. As one example, the court was previously approached for a remedy to an unsatisfactory set of circumstances involving taxation (or its absence), and ExxonMobil almost immediately joined with the government in a defence of its interests.  Now when any Guyanese challenges a Guyanese institution, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and ExxonMobil ends up in the contest, the government should be expected to be join as a party with the company as a matter of reflexive action. It could be over the grave concerns involving a disastrous oil spill, and the need for the protection of an unlimited parent company guarantee, as was just ruled upon by the CCJ, or any other matters that develop in the future.

Though, as a matter of public safety and public interest, the CCJ’s ruling just lengthened the odds against the citizens of this country, this fight is now just beginning.  The first thing that locals must learn to do is to accept the CCJ’s ruling with the right frame of mind.  Just as they were all excited by the hope that Justice Sandil Kissoon’s decision gave them, they must now find it in themselves to react to the setback from the CCJ with sobriety.  Unlike Guyanese politicians who did not take too kindly to Justice Kissoon’s decision, Guyanese must not react with either vehemence or any reckless disrespect for the apex court. Now, it is imperative that attorneys for the genuinely aggrieved revisit their strategies and revise their points of attack.  With the clearest understanding that the government and ExxonMobil are two heads on the same coin on not just oil, but on so many other issues in the local domain.  The legal battles must go on.

The unlimited parent company guarantee demanded of ExxonMobil must be fought for every step of the way, if only to succeed in having it memorialised and firmly in place.  An oil spill of significant proportions may never materialise, but that company guarantee must still be in hand.  It is better to have that protective armour close by in such circumstances, than to have what is the equivalent of nothing at all.  The Court of Appeal in Guyana is the next battleground for a higher judicial determination on this existential issue.  The American oil giant is ready, and so also is the Guyana Government with Attorney General only too happy to be in the forefront of the contest.  It is almost a foregone conclusion that whatever the outcome is from the Court of Appeal, this unlimited parent company guarantee issue is heading back to the CCJ.  How the cookie crumbles at that vaunted judicial body is what keeps everyone, from the Guyana Government to ExxonMobil to Guyanese bringing cases, on their toes, and fully engaged.

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