Looking on…

…at Big Oil roil
Now that we’re an oil-producing nation, we better get used to knowing a tad better these oil companies who are – and will be – getting our oil out from under the Atlantic. We know that the US-based Exxon (45 per cent), Hess (30 per cent), and the Chinese government-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) (25 per cent) made the first big strike in our Stabroek Block – and have been pumping out the black gold since the end of 2019!! They started out with 200,000 bpd and are heading to 1 million bpd by next year!!
Now, few remember that UK-based Shell was an original partner with Exxon back in 1999 when Janet signed the exploration agreement. So what happened to them?? At that time the contract was more of a pre-emptive move against Chavez in Venezuela and their border controversy, even though an American geological survey had indicated there was oil under our muddy Atlantic waters!! Shell, however, pulled out after the initial wells came up dry!! That was when a small US/Texas oil company, Hess, and a Canadian company, Nexen, acquired 30 per cent and 25 per cent of the operation. So how did CNOOC get in?
They acquired Nexen in 2013, and – even though the Guyana operations weren’t considered worthy of even a mention in the acquisitions – we arrived at the present setup. Which is, we’re now one of the largest offshore strikes in the world!! So while the US is jumping up and down like a fowl cock about “China’s Challenge” – and looking askance at our dealings with that country – we should remember that CNOOC was given explicit approval by both the US and Canada for the acquisition!!
So we (finally) arrive at the news that prompted this long meditation – that US-owned Chevron just won an arbitration to acquire Hess’ share of our Stabroek Field. This was after they’d already acquired the entire Hess corporation – with interests in several other oil plays in the US and elsewhere. But Exxon and CNOOC claimed they should have first dibs on Hess’ Guyana assets since they’d been there when all the heavy lifting (literally and figuratively!!) had been done to get the operation going!! The international arbitrators didn’t agree, and now Chevron – capitalised at US$260B – is here, along with Exxon – US$464B and CNOOC – US$116B!! For comparison, our entire GDP is US$17B – but if we take out the oil revenues – which don’t remain here – it’s really just about US$8 billion!!
So let’s get used to the power of these entities and be realistic in what we can – and can’t – do without getting squeezed. Remember all this global “overthrowing of government business” started in 1951 when Iran’s PM was ousted to control their oil. Without dropping bunker-busting bombs!!
The more things change…!!

…at old revolutionaries
Today is Frantz Fanon’s 100th birth anniversary!! And your Eyewitness wants to talk about why so many of you dear readers – and probably 100 per cent of those under thirty! – exclaimed, “Who the heck is Franz Fanon??!!” It’s such a source of sadness that the psychiatrist from Martinique – who did more than anyone else in the world to alert us to the damage that was done to our minds and psyches by European colonial rule – isn’t known by one and all!
Remember us carrying on as to how the Brits convinced us they were so much better than us, and after they decamped, their “mixed” descendants assumed the same attitude? Their 1 per cent of white blood – leading to the Fanonian “Black Skin; White Mask” – gave them that legitimacy!! And so many of us went along. Isn’t this why our “coloured elite” still insist they’re more qualified to run the country!!
Fanon did talk about the catharsis of violence – but your Eyewitness ain’t going down that road!!

…at politics
The American humourist Mark Twain once remarked, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” He showed that “all skin teeth na laff” because we’ve seen so many politicians with “credentials” behaving like asses during this silly season!!