Oil used in production…Why the games?

Sep 13, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – It seems that American oil supergiant, ExxonMobil, is extremely clever with certain sensitive information surrounding its Guyana operations, or it has succeeded in influencing the PPP/C Government to sacrifice national interests to the advantage of the company. One early example of this is the secrecy surrounding billions of American dollars in ExxonMobil’s oil operations expenses that are withheld from the nation.

Who would be the foremost beneficiaries of such a decision, if not ExxonMobil and its partner the PPP/C Government? Why is there such deceptiveness with the release of key information that is routine? Why is the hiding of such expense details necessary in the first place, and what does it say about the credibility of both the foreign oil operator and its local collaborator? The former is ExxonMobil, the latter is the PPP/C Government slavishly fulfilling its role as dutiful aider and abettor. Secrecy with massive expenses for different oil projects was the introduction. Now there is this succeeding chapter involving how much oil is being used by ExxonMobil in its operations.

Activist and attorney of international recognition, Ms. Melinda Janki, raised that specific question. How many barrels of oil is the company using for its various production processes? It is an important question, and should not be difficult one for any honest government to provide an answer that is straight and accurate. Because Guyana is where it is with this oil, and the PPP/C Government has taken pride in tricks and sleights of hand with this generational wealth of the people, there is little optimism that the issue of how many barrels of oil ExxonMobil is using in its operations will be responded to and put to bed. The standard is already in place, with the Ministry of Natural Resources serving evidence of how careful and clever the government can be when certain pieces of vital information are required. Guyanese are told of how much oil the company produces daily. They are informed of the amount of gas re-injected into the wells as part of the production process, and how much is flared into the atmosphere. But then there is this huge gap in the information provided. How much oil ExxonMobil is creaming straight from the top of the oil pumped daily to use in its offshore operations?

The concern is whether this is an innocent oversight by the Natural Resources Ministry, or it forms part of oil management ploys employed by the PPP/C Government to pull the wool over the eyes of Guyanese. When that number is disclosed, whatever it is, assessments can be made that, given the scope of ExxonMobil’s Guyana operations, as to the reasonableness of it, how it compares to similar situations elsewhere. On the other hand, when that number is shaded in secrecy, the door is flung open for playing with what could involve thousands of barrels of oil daily. To put this matter more bluntly, is ExxonMobil using that information blackout about how much oil it uses in its operations to skim and scam this country, without citizens having a clue about what is happening? To make matters more unpalatable, there is a State agency of Guyana, its oil ministry no less, being selective with what is shared with citizens.

When issues like this one, cloaked in darkness, part of strange mysteries, occur, the keen in Guyana grow firmer in the belief that these things are happening too frequently to be taken at face value. When a host country’s government, operating alongside a foreign oil company, practices secrecy and delivers information only when pressured, then the outlook is not healthy for the people and their wealth. There could be some discretion when some component in the oversight of the oil patrimony is concealed once. The same leeway, though to a lesser degree, could be extended when there is a second such development. After that, patience and trust dwindle to zero. There has been secrecy or selective sharing of details with billions of ExxonMobil’s Guyana expenses. The same is true with audit reports and studies. Now, there is the issue of how much of Guyana’s oil ExxonMobil is using in its operations, and why the Guyana Government is so tricky in sharing it.

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ExxonMobil, Government, information, oil, production

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