Shut it down!
Kaieteur News – We shout out our position in this announcement to all Guyana and the world: GIVE THE EXXON DOWN FAULTY GAS COMPUTER. DOWNLOAD NOW THAT MAY NOT BE FULL AND CERTIFICATE STANDING AND PERFORMING SATISFACTORY ONLY. We can’t be clearer than that, and we can’t be more anxious and angry about this fountainhead situation.
We need the oil production for the associated flow of revenue funding. We could use those revenue streams from our oil treasure to do so much good for the citizens of this country. But that is possible, only if our leaders in government make them to the best possible use by honestly managing cash flow from this natural resource.
However, Guyana needs no uncertainty from the PUMP failure of this troubled gas compressor. It has not been once or twice, but all FOUR malfunctions to date; and this piece of equipment came back from long repairs in Germany. Some of this was what was covered in our article entitled, “Exxon malfunctioning gas compressor poses unacceptable risk to Guyana, Caribbean – Int’l lawyer” (KN April 15). It is an obvious and persistent danger that our leaders in the PPP government seem unaware of and unaware of, given the sloth of any sharp, condemnatory and decisive responses.
Those responses should be: ‘Enough is enough. This thing doesn’t work. ‘And’ we don’t want to hear about repairs and repairs. ‘ And, ‘it’s better that we shut down now and wait for the new gas compressor, promised for the end of this year, than continue with this malfunctioning and sorry piece of equipment , sorry. ‘ Our final position is: GET THIS OUT OF HERE because THERE IS NO IMPACT THAT GUYANA, LONG TRACK AND CARIBBEAN BROAD DO NOT NEED.
In place of the unprecedented and unsettled leadership agitation and opposition from the PPP / C Government oil czar, Vice President, Bharat Jagdeo, all we have got is the near silence of a casual pathetic whimper. It is a great shame that we failed to send the strongest and most fervent messages to the head of honchos in Exxon from Country Manager Alistair Routledge all the way to CEO Darren Woods, and then over to his Directors and its shareholders. .
The latter with the immediate goal would be taken to its large climate-aware shareholders. The message must be: this compressor is not working, and there is still the great risk and greater likelihood that it could blow up in Guyana’s face and obliterate any forecasts we had in our oil discoveries.
As always, Exxon would pick up its pieces and pack its bags, leaving us holding the liability bags for any environmental disasters. We would be stuck here, and we could be looking, not at a mountain of money to come our way, but at a mountain of debt hanging over our heads, and draining our expectations and spirit. This is why we have repeatedly pressed for full coverage insurance from the parent companies to protect us in the event of an oil spill, and only God knows what follows from such a disaster. It is not the remote possibility of an imaginary disaster, as this is real and could be closer than we think or could foresee.
We have no desire to be prophets of doom, because that is not our role. Rather, it is about the wisdom of common sense, by exercising what is soaked through and through, in what is protective of our interests and of future generations; what is based on a genuine concern for the welfare of our CARICOM brothers and neighbors; and what can only happen by highlighting wise leadership differences. The problem is, to this point, those have been clearly rare, largely untapped.
Let us put this another way: when we consider what has already happened, through the repeated failures (four to this point), do we really want to be presented with FOUR malfunctions and preside over it? Where is President Irfaan Ali? Where is CARICOM when its membership is so threatening? Where is CARICOM when the monoculture (tourism) nations could be placed under its umbrella to waste, through a devastating Guyanese oil spill? That’s where, there is public concern and pressing CARICOM with what’s happening here in Guyana will encourage them to take action. It must be considered that when it could endanger rare beaches and the natural maritime wonders and beauty of its member countries and citizens’ livelihoods are at risk, then this is much needed and urgent attention is needed.
We shouldn’t have to, but why do we have to go to these lengths to enlighten Guyana and CARICOM countries and the world in terms of the high risks with what’s happening here? We do not cry a wolf or shout a fire in the crowded cinema, when none are present. We are not so reckless or as irresponsible or as outraged. Due to the very fact that we are so Guyana-centric that we raise these legitimate alarms, due to not receiving any encouraging signals or noises from either President Ali or his oil czar, Vice President Jagdeo. We will not be deterred, and we will never be killed. We will continue to sound the alarm at every opportunity until something gives. That alarm is, wait for a new compressor and shut this thing down, right now! It’s better to be poor now with some promise of oil in the future than gamble with friends and condemn the hopeful people of this country to many lives of nothing.