Dear Editor,
Guyana has two tasks concerning profit oil. Sell it for the highest price possible and use the proceeds for the benefit of the people of the nation. The tangent that Dr Bynoe and his consultants have gone on to “introduce and market a grade” is farcical. ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNOOC are all going to be selling oil from the same well, by the time Guyana’s turn to lift comes around, seven million barrels of ‘Liza grade’ would have been pumped, delivered, sold and even refined.
The crude marketing specialist employed by the DE said “We don’t know the real fair market value of our crude. What we are trying to do is test it, run it through a refining system, take the feedback from the refiner, from the people who have not just refining but also the marketing channels. They have the value of the pump, of the petrol, all around the world. We want to run it through systems who will give us the feedback of what is the fair market value at this point”. That must be the definition of ‘specialist’ in bovine waste. Take my simple and free advice: get the same price as ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNNOC and you will make more on the ‘take-home’. Let me explain further.
ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNNOC are experienced IOC’s, they are not going to be gypped out of a cent. If we attempt to reinvent this wheel and enter the race of highly tuned machines with a rickshaw pulled by Bynoe, we will be fleeced millions by way of specialists, consultants, backroom costs, administrative costs and we shall pay dearly for reports that are made available freely. This is often referred to as the ‘parasitic consultant trap’ a common problem for startup companies and businesses. The way to avoid it is to utilise your grey matter. Take a look at the other utterance from the DE specialist.
Crude Marketing Specialist, Virginia Markouizou – “Here, we are talking about taking all the steps, establishing relationships with the market, showing a face of stability, introducing, in a paced way, a grade and holding face-to-face conversations with people who have to give us feedback”. I can advise that Guyana is already in a relationship with an IOC that is working to do all these things. The Operator of the Stabroek Block is in partnership with Guyana, it is not an adversarial relationship.
They have extended every courtesy asked of us and beyond with information and have (unasked) funded an under-utilised Centre for Local Content Development. ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNNOC share a common goal with Guyana when it comes to getting the best price for Liza grade. We can apply ourselves and learn all we can from our current partners before we venture further into deep waters.
Dr Bynoe and the Minister responsible for oil in Guyana, HE David Granger, are either not applying themselves to the questions surrounding oil sales; being sidetracked or misled by consultants, or are not capable of critical thinking at the required level. I will not even entertain Bynoe’s concept of “transparency” when he described wanting to deliver information on the Government’s sale of three million barrels of oil after all arrangements were concluded.
Used to be that was known as a ‘fait acompli’: a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it. The Granger years have been plagued by the question of the deliberately obtuse versus dense, it would seem there has been contagion.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh
