Three cheers for the man from Exxon

Aug 30, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – For he’s a jolly good fellow.  For he’s a jolly good fellow…  That would be CEO of Fulcrum LNG, Jesus Bronchalo.  He is Guyana’s newly minted gas monetization man.  That’s like saying that the IMF works in the best interests of countries to which it offers those Mafia type loan shark deals that they can’t refuse.  For Guyanese who may be focusing on Senor Bronchalo and his born on the run company, Fulcrum, take it from me: that is barking up the wrong tree.

Senor Bronchalo didn’t take his leave from Exxon after 19 years.  No folks, he was spun off by Exxon to set up shop in the Nevada desert in what was a nimble piece of corporate footwork.  Bronchalo left and then he had this come-to-Jesus vision.  The result is Fulcrum, LNG.  Where is God when I need him to guide along these primrose paths…  Hip, hip, hooray for Bronchalo with a half curtsy to Alistair Routledge and Exxon for coming up with another stunner for a winner.  Who else but a former company insider deep in its Guyana operations!

Bottom line reality amounts to this: if any Guyanese is ready to be such a sucker as to fall for that one, then go right ahead.  They can go ahead and make their own day without any help from me.  Exxon and Bronchalo did not divest themselves of each other after 19 mutually fruitful years. No siree, Bob: Exxon just diversified into Guyana’s gas with its trusted corporate soldier Bronchalo as the captain of that commercial ship that made its appearance in sunny Nevada. Exxon even got a man with a name that would make Guyanese swoon, even an atheist like Bharrat Jagdeo. Man! do these guys operating out of Texas write the book on how to wheel and deal with oil and gas… Incidentally, I hope that there isn’t anybody in Guyana who harboured the thought that Exxon was going to stand idly by and relax its stranglehold on this country’s oil and gas sector, by letting the gas business go to some stranger.  Why, even the Chinese partner in the Exxon-spearheaded offshore oil consortium was edged out of the 17 headed bidding field. Somebody at Natural Resources made sure that there were no slipups, and that everything had just the right appearance. I would not be surprised if somebody from the national tender board present during the bidding proceedings in the capacity as a special consultant relative to how these delicate matters (bids) are handled.

From my perspective, everything about this sweetheart setup is just that, too sweet, as in too good to be true.  And if there was one thing that Americans of the caliber of Alistair Routledge taught me was that when matters mushroom out of the desert just like that, then it is neither as good (clean) as made out to be, nor has anything that is true about it.  At least, not for poor, dumb, sluggish Guyana always left to lament its fate in the loser’s circle.  I urge my fellow Guyanese to look at that whirlwind sequence of developments again: Bronchalo was at Exxon for an eternity, then in a jiffy it was splits-Ville, then almost overnight, there was this sandcastle springing out of the rocky Tahoe, Nevada wilderness.  Is Senor Bronchalo a gas showman or what?  The only ingredient missing at this point are some fancy, high-stepping Las Vegas showgirls to create the right kind of sales environment for the sale of Guyana’s gas.  Just put it on Guyana’s bill.  Separately, Guyanese should be thankful that they got a guesthouse for Fulcrum’s headquarters.  Back in the day on Wall Street, there were these Post Office Boxes that served as the addresses of many shell companies.  If the enquiring here wants to know where, why those PO Boxes were in Nevada, of course.  Though it took awhile for the dots to be connected and the ancient 1980s computer systems to crank up and crank out that detail about a pattern that was not good for know-your-customer standards.  Or what the so-called principal was all about; that was the second giveaway: it was almost always a solo operator.  Just like Senor Bronchalo, with a nod to that ghost worker serving as a decoy for gullible Guyanese.  The title of Technical Director does have an impressive ring to it.  Given that it is gas, there is also a certain smell to this whole shebang that makes people like me want to retch.

The third giveaway was the seeming nonchalance of the esteemed Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana’s Vice President of Oil and now Gas affairs.  So, now there is the Jagdeo and Bronchalo show.  There is nothing comedic about that pairing; it is all economic.  Listen to Guyana’s mighty man of oil (and gas): me worry about the man’s former relationship to Exxon?  Not me, folks.  It is why I reserve a special place in my heart for Jagdeo: the man knows where his bread is buttered (both sides) and by whom and with what.  To date, Dr. Jagdeo has not shown any ill effects from the overly high fat content of that specially enriched butter on his bread. The last word is this to Guyanese: just don’t expect too much from gas money with this fellow Bronchalo.  He has that Jagdeo halo about him.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.) 

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• Exxon, Fulcrum LNG, GHK Lall, Jesus Bronchalo, Senor Bronchalo

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