Dear Editor,
Reference is made to GHK Lall’s column published on March 4, 2024 with the caption “Bursting the Bharrat Jagdeo bubble”. The author GHK Lall hardly, if at all, writes anything worthy of response in terms of engaging him in any meaningful public debate, discussion, or analysis. On this occasion, however, for the readers’ benefit, I would like to make an exception, to illustrate the degree of venomous verbosity spewed on a daily basis by this particular author.
The author provided absolutely no meaningful, rigorous and in-depth contribution to his own subject, if it is that he intended to offer a constructive criticism or critical evaluation of the Vice President’s performance; the article was fraught with 99% venomous verbiage. This does not constitute serious analytical reasoning and evaluation of public policy and issues of national importance, matters of which the author asserts himself as an authority.
Notwithstanding, the author’s exposition of his prolific skills in the deployment of linguistics that characterize his writing style is perhaps more suited to fictional novels than to issues of national importance, development, public policy and debates.
He then attempted to raise the question of oil spill – a belaboured topical issue. The argument on the liability coverage thereof is an infinite argument; what is of utmost importance, however, is that the operator in the Stabroek block and its co-venture partners are all fully liable in any such event of a spill. Ultimately, these matters are always the subject of litigation, and international laws are often invoked. This was the case in almost all of the major oil spill catastrophes that occurred in the past in different parts of the world.
The local laws, namely the Environmental Protection Act and the Petroleum Activities Act (2023), contain several provisions mandating that the oil companies shall keep the State indemnified at all times against all liabilities that may be brought against it by reason of action or the manifestation of any adverse event arising out of the oil companies’ operations.
Further, on the question of whether the oil companies have sufficient financial resources to cover a spill, this is where the Vice President, on several occasions, demonstrated the local subsidiaries’ financial position, which is growing year-over-year in terms of size in total assets, revenue and profit, coupled with the growth and development of the parent companies. In that regard, one of the parent companies alone, namely ExxonMobil, closed FY 2023 with a total asset of US$372 billion, which is nearly 19x the size of Guyana’s GDP.
There are several elements of assurance required as per the local laws, such as the insurance coverage (US$600m) and the parent company guarantee (US$2b). Of note, as the oil companies expand their operations over the medium and long terms, these coverages would be revised upwards to reflect the increased levels of risk based on the size of the operations.
Unfortunately, the aforesaid elements are often ignored by the media and commentators such as GHK and Glenn Lall et al in the interest of propagating their own rhetoric consistent with their overt or covert agendas.
In conclusion, 99% of the article was a myriad of baloney, which is unarguably the case with all of his articles and columns. There is nothing whatsoever of substance to systematically deconstruct, even within a minimum threshold.
Yours respectfully,
Joel Bhagwandin
