Dear Editor,
Oil companies exist for the sole purpose of making money. To get their vast profits, oil companies have exterminated massive amounts of precious biodiversity through oil spills and petrochemicals, including by-products such as plastic and artificial “fertilisers”. Oil companies have lied about global warming while pushing us into catastrophic climate change. ExxonMobil has been implicated in corruption from Liberia to Russia, from Equatorial Guinea to the mighty USA. In 2016 a court in Chad fined ExxonMobil US$74Bn for tax evasion and failure to pay royalties. In the USA alone ExxonMobil has been fined for environmental damage, drilling violations, health and safety and other worker related violations, and false claims. ExxonMobil now faces lawsuits in the USA over accusations of lying to investors (including lying about its costs in Guyana) and climate change. Against this background of global destruction and exploitation of host countries, Rodney Henson, Esso’s Country Manager, has attempted the impossible task of persuading the Guyanese people that a deal signed in secret with an incompetent government is “fair”. His claims deserve scrutiny, not least because they fly in the face of law, economics and common sense.
Mr Henson claims that in 4 years Esso and its contractors have spent G$25bn in Guyana with local suppliers. It would be foolish to accept such a statement on trust. This figure of G$25bn must be verified (not audited) independently or dismissed out of hand. Under the Petroleum Agreement, Esso (and its partners) are entitled to deduct all of their costs from Guyana’s oil, including costs by contractors, so ultimately Guyana not Esso must pay this G$25bn. Has ExxonMobil instructed Mr Henson not to reclaim the G$25bn? Is it not the case that this G$25bn will be deducted from Guyana’s oil production along with the G$3.7bn (US$18m) paid secretly to the government, the G$2bn (US$10m) paid to Conservation International and every other dollar spent by Esso and its partners under the Petroleum Agreement?
Guyanese people are not stupid. They know perfectly well that it is unfair and unconscionable for Esso to be exempt from taxation while the small man (and woman) is taxed almost out of existence; and for Esso, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, one of the biggest oil companies in the world to take for free as much of Guyana’s oil as Esso says it needs; and to pay less than 2% royalty; and for Guyana to have no way to verify how much of Guyana’s oil is produced, taken or sold; and for Esso to pay no compensation for polluting Guyana’s rich fisheries every day with 4,000 barrels of sewage; and for Guyana to be responsible for cleaning up oil spills (an impossible task) and for paying compensation to Caribbean countries for any resulting damage to their territories and economies. And so on.
Like the 16 year old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Guyanese youth know they will bear the burden of catastrophic climate change caused by fossil fuels. How can Guyana’s oil deal be fair when it is contrary to constitutional rights to life, to a healthy environment and to inter-generational equity? What Guyanese youth may not fully understand is that they can and should protect themselves urgently.
There is already over-supply of oil in the global market. Countries are moving faster and faster to renewables as politicians begin to grasp the full horror of climate change, acid oceans, rising sea levels, extreme temperatures, and biodiversity loss. Contrary to Mr Henson’s prediction, oil production certainly cannot last for “decades”. Reality dictates that Guyana’s oil production should not even begin.
The most likely outcome is that oil companies will do what oil companies do best – exploit resources, destabilise society, undermine the rule of law and leave impoverished citizens to clean up a mess.
Yours faithfully,
Melinda Janki
