Between… a rock and a hard place

Up at the Houston Offshore Confab, Pressie was asked that as he works to improve the lives of the Guyanese people, why doesn’t he renegotiate the admittedly lop-sided O&G PSA or “contract” with Exxon. After all, the PPP had condemned the contract when PNC’s Trotman had trotted up to Exxon in Houston, been wined and dined and then proceeded to give away the store!! After the fine print kicks in, we end up with 2% Royalty off the top and then 12.5% of the calculated profits. Let’s call it 15% of the profits overall!!
Now compared to most of the oil contracts across the world – including the ones we’ve negotiated later – ours does come across as scraping the bottom of the (oil) barrel!! So why not renegotiate?? After all we’d at least triple our revenues – which is already astronomical compared to, say, sugar!! Well, Pres Ali was pretty clear about his government’s rationale: “The sanctity of contract is important for us. We’ve made it very clear that we cannot renegotiate the contract. That, by itself, would be a legal hurdle of an unimaginable scale.”
So let’s break this down for the umpteenth time – and pick sense from nonsense, as the old people say – by starting with the last assertion: the legal hurdle. Right up front, the PSA deals with renegotiation – in this case it’s Article 13.2 which says “Sure the PSA can be renegotiated”!! But it comes with a very big “BUT”!! The renegotiations can happen only with a signed written agreement between all of the parties involved – Guyana, Exxon, CNOOC and Chevron – which bought out the original partner Hess!
So right off the bat, we know the major partner ExxonMobil has already said they ain’t renegotiating!! And from their standpoint – why should they?? As Exxon’s Routledge said, “We have no interest to invoke that article…we’ve made US$55 billion worth of commitment to the country. To go back and to undermine the basis of that investment would seriously challenge any future investments.” Corporate managers are there to get the biggest profits for their shareholders – and they clearly are in no mood to change that status quo – since the contract itself was validly signed with no fraud even alleged!! Trotman said he was “instructed” to sign by the then PNC cabinet – with Granger at the helm!!
Now the contract also deals with such a standoff – take the matter to International Arbitration. There’s also a stabilization clause preventing the government from unilaterally altering the contract – and these create the “legal hurdle” Pres Ali alluded to!! Respecting the “sanctity of contract”is vital to attract new investors!!
Leading to the real-politik rationale of choosing between political death or surviving sensibly!!

…democracy and populism
You gotta hand it to the PPP: they never lose sight of the need to make the people – who’re the voters who put them into power – feel they’re part and parcel of the decision-making process democracy promises them. Sure, they’re chosen as the peoples’ ‘representatives” to make decisions at the national level in those elections – but that can sometimes lead to accusations of them doing their own thing!!
So out comes the “outreaches” of the PPP in every shape and form – and not just when elections are in sight as is the norm with some parties. Village meetings in various ethnic constituencies, fisherfolk meetings, sugar worker meetings; rice farmers meetings and now a peoples’ meeting at the Convention Center with VP Jagdeo and a bevy of cabinet ministers!!
At this meeting anyone from any demographic – locational, gender, ethnic or whatever – can just mosey over and raise their concern directly!! Your Eyewitness is sure this gonna be replicated in other locales!!
The immediacy of Greece’s direct democracy?!!

…Devious Delcy’s lies
One canard from Devious Delcy’s Venezuelan pleadings to the World Court was that both the PNC and the PPP offered Venezuela a piece of Guyana – pursuant to Geneva Agreement discussions!!
That’s the danger of even talking with Venezuela!!