‘Use same zeal to secure better oil deal for Guyana’

Mar 04, 2025 News

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—Glenn Lall urges Pres. Ali and Norton after their meeting over Venezuela incursion

Kaieteur News- While acknowledging the need for a united front on the subject of Guyana’s territorial integrity in the face of recent Venezuela’s threats, Businessman and advocate for a better oil deal, Glenn Lall, said the President and Leader of the Opposition should show the same eagerness to fight for more from this country’s oil resources.

He said that all Guyana should stand up against Venezuela’s threats and aggression, but he does not see the same zeal from our leaders to also fight for this country economic independence. “We have that trillion-dollar resource out there that we are hardly getting anything from, but these same men are not meeting to secure that resource,” Lall said. He made the comments in reaction to the hastily arranged meeting between President Irfaan Ali and Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton last Saturday, following an incident where an armed Venezuelan patrol vessel Guaiquerí (PO 11), entered Guyana’s waters and approached ExxonMobil Guyana’s Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform–Prosperity – which is operating in Guyana’s oil-rich Stabroek Block. The Stabroek Block is being operated by U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil Guyana and its partners and contains approximately 11.6B barrels of oil.

The Venezuelan vessel radioed the FPSO platform stating that it was operating in what it termed “disputed international waters” before continuing its course towards other FPSOs operating in the oil block. Ali met with Norton at State House Saturday afternoon, during which he fully briefed the LOO on recent the incursion by Venezuela.

But Lall, who has been consistently  critical of the leaders’ failure to engage the US oil major on the subject of a renegotiation of the lopsided oil contract, said he had not seen the same effort by the leaders to protect the country’s economic wellbeing. “These two leaders cannot see eye to eye on anything else. They don’t have one word to say to each other about the other threats this country faces day after day with our resources. I want them to talk about our resources and the threats we face,” Lall told listeners to his radio programme Monday night.

He added that President Ali and Opposition Leader Norton, can meet immediately over a Venezuela threat, “but they have never met to speak with one voice, to correct that other threat to Guyana- that ExxonMobil contract, the same deal that would leave generations to come in poverty and hunger.” Lall’s comments mirror those of Trade Unionist, Lincoln Lewis, who also berated Norton for agreeing to the meeting with Ali. In a letter to the editor Lewis said that in September 2023, he had raised concerns about Norton failing to take a firm stance against President Irfaan Ali regarding the Venezuela/Guyana border dispute. He said back then, the issue was Venezuela’s rejection of Guyana’s oil block sales. “Today, I find myself revisiting the issue with growing alarm, as Norton continues to make the same mistake—meeting with Ali without setting clear conditions, while Ali unabashedly disregards the local events.” These include: constitution and laws of Guyana, and the interests of the very people Norton is supposed to represent.
“By agreeing to meet Ali without demanding accountability, Norton allows Ali to show open contempt for both his office and the citizens he represents,” Lewis said.

For his part Lall said Ali and Norton have never met to take a stand together on ring-fencing the oil projects, noting that ring fencing is not a threat, “ring fencing is where the Guyanese people are being raped and robbed, every single day from that oil. Lack of ring-fencing gives ExxonMobil the licence to pile up billions of US dollars in expenses that should not be on our books or against our name. That is what these two men should be meeting about, that is what is draining our oil profits.”

According to Lall, the two leaders are not meeting to discuss why Guyanese are getting “that miserable 14.5% from this oil, when Suriname, Trinidad, Brazil, Belize and the rest of the oil producing world walking home with over 60 or 70 and even 80% from every barrel of their oil.”  “They won’t meet to address why the country is drowning in a US$5B debt, despite collecting US$6B in revenue from the oil alone. The two of them wouldn’t meet to address the auditors’ findings—that ExxonMobil has been allegedly robbing the Guyanese people of billions through shady expenses and inflated costs.  They won’t meet to discuss putting our own meters at Exxon’s pumps, to track exactly how much oil is being pumped and shipped out daily.  No, they don’t have time for that.  They can’t meet to secure Guyana and the region from an oil spill, a disaster that would wipe out our environment, poison our waters for generations to come, cripple our way of life and destroy our economy,” Lall said.

Last December marked five years since ExxonMobil commenced offshore deep-water oil production here and although the US oil major continues to boast of record profits owing to the lopsided nature of the contract it secured, the Government of Guyana is yet to take steps to change the deal so that Guyanese can benefit more. The government has also failed to implement key strategies for the prudent management of the resources and measures that allow for public oversight and accountability. ExxonMobil is the operator of the prolific Stabroek Block where more than 11 billion barrels of oil resources have been discovered since 2015. ExxonMobil Guyana operates the block in partnership with Hess and CNOOC. The agreement exempts the oil companies from paying taxes directly, with Guyana covering these costs, and allows the companies to recover up to 75% of their investments before the remaining 25% is split. Of this, Guyana receives 12.5%, in addition to a 2% royalty paid by the oil companies.

Meanwhile, Director of Energy at Americas Market Intelligence, Arthur Deakin, had shared the view that the government lacks a clear structure on how the resources from this sector will be used to transform the lives of Guyanese. He noted that Guyana’s oil sector has been moving at one of the fastest paces known in the industry; however, when it comes to translating that wealth to the population, this has been taking some time. In fact, the specialist pointed out that for the wealth to benefit the population, it would require structural planning by the administration. To this end, Deakin said, “The government lacks a clear vision, a clear plan on how it’s gonna spend the money it’s receiving from the oil revenue, so I think there is a lot of room for improvement.”

(‘Use same zeal to secure better oil deal for Guyana’)

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• economic independence., FPSO platform, Norton, Venezuela incursion, Venezuela’s threats

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