Tilting… at Oil Wells

In his recent interview on Al Jazeera, Pres Ali reiterated what everybody and their Maamoo in Guyana already knew – the ExxonMobil PSA signed by Trotman for APNU back in 2016 wasn’t exactly a shining example of negotiating genius!! If negotiation was cricket, Trotman clearly went to bat without a bat, resulting in fact – if we want to call an oil rig and oil rig – a giveaway!! We got a measly 2% bonus and with no ring fencing, allowing 75% spending to be expensed before we received 50% profit which made our share effectively 12.5%!! And we he hear the criticisms of the government for not demanding “renegotiation”!! But your Eyewitness asks, renegotiate wha’, bai? De money already collecting!!
Jeez…after a decade down that road hasn’t that horse already left the stable – and in fact is now sending us a fairer share of the profits?? Exxon and its partners have recovered roughly US$55 billion in development costs, and our share of production has risen from the original dinky 12.5% to approximately 39.8%!! Demanding renegotiating at this time is rather like buying a house for $20M, discovering five years later that the land underneath now worth $100M, and then marching back to the seller shouting, “Boss, you rob me! Give back some a dat money!” And as Pressie explained – what does that do to your reputation if you trying to sell more houses for a living??!!
Of course, we should scrutinise every oil contract – by auditing costs, enforcing the law, protecting the environment and making sure our treasury receives every dollar to which it’s entitled – as is now being done with all the contracts for new blocks Nobody saying leh Exxon tek advantage and do wha deh waan wid we!!
The great irony is that those demanding a renegotiation today don’t appreciate we may actually have a better deal than they realise – as we see from all the (very expensive!) dry wells other oil companies have drilled!! The investment risk has largely been borne, the infrastructure is producing, the billions have been recovered and our share has jumped dramatically!! There’s a difference between protecting our interests and behaving as though we can rewind the movie to 2016 and yell, “Stop the drilling! We gotta negotiate again!!”
The real question now ain’t whether APNU could’ve gotten a better deal – dem shoulda!! The challenge is whether Guyana can take the money from the deal we actually have and turn it into roads, hospitals, education, productive industries and decent jobs – which the government of Irfaan Ali’s already doing!!
Let’s not get too greedy and become like the dog with the bone!!
Remember Venezuela’s offering a much bigger bone next door!!

…at the Border
Poor Delcy’s about to discover that politics is not unlike Guyanese cooking: sometimes you gotta stir the pot without knowing exactly what’s going to come out!! With Washington looming large over Venezuela’s political future, Delcy understands that staying in office require going along with the Yanks!! But then there is that little Essequibo matter!!
As Pressie told Al Jazeera next year, the ICJ’s gonna deliver its judgment and everything suggests – after years of Caracas behaved as though putting “Essequibo es nuestro” on enough banners would turn political theatre into international law – it ain’t what Delcy wants!! Her dilemma is if she rejects the judgment – Washington might vex while accepting it tees off Venezuelan nationalists!! Pressie says we’re prepared for whatever response!!
So, Delcy could be left with the ultimate dilemma: How yuh remain in office when every answer can get folks vexed? She might need to start practising: “Well, boys, that ain’t how we planned it.”
It’s called catching yourself in your own mess!!

…at fences
Sanction Man’s clearly getting more desperate as he discovers that while time longer than twine, a noose in Miami ain’t made of twine!!
He returned to Leonora to confront a fence near Pressie’s home – like Sancho Panza!!