Too many sharks too close for comfort

Nov 25, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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…Hard Truths 

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News- Around this part of the world, it is a hotbed of activity, a beehive of movements.  There is a warm buzz in the air.  Big people from Big Powers all over the regional space and with big smiles on their big faces.  Guyanese eyes were fully fixed on visiting Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi.  For three lush days and long lavish nights, Guyanese only had eyes for Shree Narendra.  The rafters were shaking with chants of Modi!  Modi! Modi!  I pinch myself and remind myself at the same time to be careful.  Don’t get on the wrong side of the people who herald and held Mr. Modi tight.  The man is giving 1000 scholarships.  Ow man, give the man the oil lift he was so interested in, make his day.  There was that time during the pandemic when India was so generous with vaccines.  A little oil from Guyana would be a great way of showing some appreciation, a little reciprocation.  Exxon couldn’t have sucked so much out of Guyana, that it has nothing left to give.  I understand from one of the earlier communiqués of Demerara Waves that Exxon has to be consulted about the possible arrival of very large carriers and how that fits (or interferes) with its ops.

While all of this was going on in Guyana, over there in Brasilia, Chinese strongman President Xi Jinping was lining up his own deals with a big, fat cheshire grin.  It was from Xi to Modi: take that buddy.  Energy and agri, among other mutually rewarding trade goodies, were finalized.  Lula laughed, Xi cracked a wide one over there in South America’s reigning superpower, Brazil.  Over here, Excellency Ali was in his element: his hand was outstretched and encircling.  But when his palms were prized open, they were both bland and almost blank.  India offered transportation facilities, crime fighting facilities, seaweed conversion (sargassum??) facilities.  Guyana and India talked about energy security, but no ships are set to sail in either direction.  With India a proven powerhouse in medicine, education, information tech, and engineering, among a sprawl of other areas of expertise, Guyana could accelerate narrowing of the gaps currently existing as human resource capacity deficits.  Severe deficits, if I may emphasize to others.  Not because the Americans (Exxon) like to keep the skills equation so out of whack should Guyana go along to please the Yankee oil giant.  Why should what immensely benefits the Yankees be to the disadvantage of Guyanese?

I have always believed in giving something to get something.  The Romans called it quid pro quo, which transforms any Mother Hubbard into a blue-eyed barbie doll.  Modi came with a big bag, he should not be made to leave with a small basket.  I heard some chatter related to the marketing of the oil lifts.  When a marketer could offer US 0.70 cents per barrel of Guyana oil, then I suggest imagining how much it is hauling in for itself.  Local imagination should be given room to roam.  The spot and futures and forward (and swaps) markets have some complexities, conditions, and crabs (a euphemism) about them that would make an Einstein weep.  My recommendation to Guyana’s oil movers and shakers-the groping and gasping Ali-Jagdeo-Bharrat triumvirate-is to stress test this country’s lift(s) via the competitive bidding process.  No bid has to be accepted.  But the best bid and related add-on conditions could then be placed before Shri Modi with an invitation for him to beat that bar.  Twenty-seven companies showed their interest and hand to get Guyana’s oil lift business.  It is obvious, therefore, that what Guyana has in its pocket has pulling power.  It certainly pulled Shree Modi across the Indian and Pacific Oceans all the way to the Atlantic here.  The long haul requires a large boat.  Here is an opportunity to break from Exxon’s (or its undisclosed proxies) clamp on some components of Guyana’s oil business.  Give the oil lift deal to Modi and his big ship(s) and cement a real fraternal bond.  All he has to do is better than the best competitive bidder.  After all the toasts and good cheer, the garlands and good food, it is good business.

Getting that oil lift from Guyana for India would be the gem in the prime minister’s regional appearances and appeals.  The Government of Guyana must look for ways to do some of its business away from Exxon.  It is time that independence shows, the treacherous and incestuous dependency broken.  Exxon takes and takes and takes.  It gives little to nothing, comparatively speaking.  A few cricket bats and some cricket hats with some writing upon them is an insult to Guyanese, whether the richest or the poorest.

Last, I would be remiss if some well-grounded anxieties are not expressed.  It is getting crowded around here.  The Americans are here, and with both the Chinese and the Indians diving into an increasingly congested geographical port of call.  Some of these groups don’t think too highly or sweetly of the others.  Simultaneously, the Russians, Iranians, and Cubans are frolicking about.  This is too much for a simple guy like me.  The running dogs of capitalism are running wild.  It’s heavy, heavy stuff.

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

(Too many sharks too close for comfort)

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• 1000 scholarships, Americans, hard truths, President Xi Jinping, Shri Narendra Modi

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