ExxonMobil and trust

Jan 25, 2024 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Any Guyanese that places an iota of trust in what ExxonMobil does here needs to obtain some professional attention. Any national government, populated by patriotic leaders, that thinks of ExxonMobil as a trusted partner, really ought to be nowhere near the corridors of power. We say it as bluntly as we can: ExxonMobil is not to be trusted, ExxonMobil has done little to garner credibility with Guyanese on their oil, has been as untrustworthy as they come when certain deplorable aspects of its presence here are weighed. The company has been found wanting, and by a large margin.

It is the view of an increasing number of Guyanese that ExxonMobil should not be trusted to be the sole provider of oil production and other data to this country. We could not agree more, for the company has done little to dispel such a hard, dismissive judgment. As more developments about the kind of partner that ExxonMobil is surface, more citizens get to see more about what ExxonMobil is most consumed by.

In reverse order, there is this fascinating US$214 million in audit findings that was mysteriously shaved all the way down to US$3 million. Right now, both ExxonMobil and the PPP/C leadership have egg on their faces, and it is not of the freshly cooked kind. This US$214 million audit is a stink bomb that it is not losing any of its aroma, even as the PPP/C Government labours around the clock to suppress the odors that intensify. Why did ExxonMobil engage in what it did, and how could a partnership that calls for the highest levels of reciprocal trust deteriorate to this ugly state? With the production of oil some 120 miles from Guyana’s shoreline, this question takes on even more severity. With Guyana limited in terms of capacity and technology, and all the essentials of requisite expertise, the issue of trust becomes even more urgent.

Then, there is this inexplicable matter of billions in oil expenses that the Government of Guyana conceals from its own citizens. Guyanese are the ones paying these expenses. Given what is taken out from their oil revenues, they have every right, therefore, to see every item that ExxonMobil has billed Guyana for under one project heading or the other. This assumes an even greater momentum when the absence of ring-fencing is given the sharpest gaze. Could ExxonMobil be trusted to be fair and principled in billing this country for expenses that belong only to our oil projects? We at this paper are insistent: NO! Should ExxonMobil be trusted to bill Guyana with accurate quantities and prices for materials and labour and systems said to be used in our oilfields? Again, our answer is a resounding: NO!

Going deeper into the past, but which has only made the news now; ExxonMobil executed two transactions with Shell, another global oil giant, which had to have generated some revenue. Yet there is no such record in the company’s books. We agree that Guyana must honour its share of legitimate expenses pertaining to its oil, but this country must also, by the same standard, participate in any monies that are a product of subleasing any portion of any block that is under the control of ExxonMobil. It is likely that tens of millions of American dollars, at the very least, were involved, but on those ExxonMobil has gone blank. Its accounting books and records are, for a start.

In focusing on ExxonMobil’s accounting books, the company was caught with its pants down, and it is a sight from which Guyanese turn their faces. ExxonMobil billed Guyana US$460 million for pre-contract costs from 1999 to 2015, but its own accounting systems disclose the revealing amount of US$368 million. This is how a US$92 million differential got bagged and tagged and dropped on Guyana’s head. How can this company called ExxonMobil ever be considered as worthy of any smidgen of trust from any Guyanese? ExxonMobil is ripping off Guyanese, laughing all the way to the bank, and actively seeking ways to gouge this country still more. Given all this, it is clear that ExxonMobil’s production numbers cannot be trusted. The same can be said for everything that it does offshore.

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