A spinner for a partner

Jul 02, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – Exxon hires the smartest.  Only the best.  Its Guyana Country Head, Mr. Alistair Routledge, passed the test.  When he felt the heat, he beat a hasty retreat.  Into the shadows.  A teacher.  A watcher.  Enter, Exxon’s Vice President and Business Services Manager, Mr. John Colling.  A super spinner.  A master obfuscator.  A now proven first-rate vacillator.  Guyanese thought they were getting an inspiring partner in Exxon, a different [oil] Big Brother.  Wrong twice.  Instead of a partner, they got a spinner.  In place of a true Big Brother, they got an undertaker.  Guyanese get carried out feet first, without their boots on.  Bootlessness; especially politicians.  Less weight when running from dealing with Exxon faceup, straight up.

In Mr. Colling, there’s good news and bad news.  The good news: they hear a sweet, sad story.  The bad news: Guyanese are paying for it.  Spin doctors like Mr. Colling don’t come cheap.  I must listen to him to detect if there’s that good ole Texas drawl to put locals to sleep.  Then make rings around them.  He has become very practiced at that, since Mr. Rouledge rolled out Exxon’s latest secret weapon.  Asked about the cost of Exxon’s High Command skyscraper, and the usually overflowing Mr. Colling could only say it’s “appropriate.”  Exxon teaches them well.  In its Country Head, Mr. Routledge, there’s a leader who came to Rome and started doing as the Romas do.  Thanks to Guyana’s domestic dancing masters, the Ali-Jagdeo Duo, Exxon’s Routledge and Colling have become skilled at one-liners and one-worders.

Read the financials, Colling said.  He knew full well that the HQ costs is shared among the three-member consortium.  He uses that to slip the question: the final cost, sir.  Exxon usually is the face and voice of the consortium.  Now when millions are involved, Mr. Colling tries to push Guyana’s pushy media towards the other two silent partners.  Since Hess Corp’s John Hess took his millions and took off for Acapulco, silence has prevailed.  Plus, the Chinese are known for stoic silence, even in the face of draconian tortures.  By subtraction, there’s only Exxon and Mr. Colling left.

Colling had spun webs before with the farcical half-and-half profit split between Guyana and Exxon.  According to John Colling: “there’s a difference between petroleum agreement accounting and IFRS…”  I have heard about accounting practices, but never accounting propaganda.  The standing question is: how does Exxon find oil masters (not paintings) like Routledge and Colling, then dump them here?

Next, I translate for Guyanese, Mr. Colling’s profit-sharing tango.  Be patient.  Hold strain.  Don’t tek wurriez.  Be happy.  Exxon is with Guyana, will ensure it gets its half.  Like hell it will.  There is Exxon’s half, and there’s another kind of half.  Guyana is still calculating what fraction of a half it’s getting.  Even Euclid and Archimedes wouldn’t touch the Exxon-Guyana profit formula.

Asked about Guyana’s proven oil reserves, Mr. Routledge sidelined Mr. Colling and stepped forward like George Armstrong Custer at the Little Big Horn.  “Doesn’t have to be proved” until a project is funded.  See what I keep saying about Guyana’s partner(s).  Because Exxon’s own 2025 Annual Report highlighted: “Additions to proved reserves include 2.1 GOEB (billion oil equivalent barrels) from extensions and discoveries primary in the United States and Guyana and 0.1 GOEB related to United States acquisitions.”

Mr. Routledge ignored that document and CEO, with “don’t have to be proved”, until…  One partner’s games with the other.  Exxon’s hotshot spinners observe Guyanese and see country bumpkins.  Exxon’s dodges must be seen for what they are re final cost for the HQ.  It went from approx. $52 million in 2020 to $160 million in 2025.  Inflation?  Or, IFRS accounting techniques?  Whatever it is, Guyanese are paying.  Like free rum and free food, Exxon’s enjoying itself.  Last, the Exxon HQ which Guyanese funded, sections of it are off-limits for locals.  Perhaps, Exxon’s spying on Guyanese and listening to PPP Govt. conversations.  Plus, track Azruddin “Mr. Renegotiate” Mohamed and feed the CIA.  Mr. Colling is tightlipped about total cost.  But Guyanese are getting value for their money.  With Exxon as partner, Guyanese have a brother, mother, and father.

(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, GHK Lall, spinner

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