All oil today – all disturbing
By GHK Lall
Kaieteur News – Something rare is done in this space: I focus on recent oil developments and emphasize what is disturbing. A gas-on-shore project is the first local content second, and the third is, who really is for the Guyanese people. If the latter is found, we can use the enlightenment.
A news item on Tuesday in KN noted that Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources shared that ExxonMobil is ready to conduct studies on a likely gas-to-shore project here. I would have been surprised if the company did not do so, without taking part in some preliminary undertaking about the significance of its prospects. This is what progressive, competitive and profit-oriented corporations are doing for feasibility purposes, their unique management hoped for for such a project, and always to improve the earnings of their shareholders. Minister Guyana informed that Exxon is embarking on that, and we thank him.
I would thank him more – along with the Vice President and President, for presenting to every Guyanese what the government intends to do about its own studies for the gas-to-shore project this one that has a lot of touch to it. This nation would be grateful to be informed of those entities shortlisted for such studies, the criteria used for the final selection, and with a sincere commitment to providing the complete and tangible results of the studies that before the Guyanese public. The biggest thing ever to come the way of this country can’t be the biggest secret, it’s the biggest step. There is nothing incendiary about this oil blessing of ours (apart from the self-condemning acts of political and commercial players), so the powerful opposition to coming clean on oil is most mystical.
I have always believed that if there is nothing under the table, then darkness and concealment are only to confirm that darkness and concealment at work. Since the PPP government has bent hell on a gas-to-shore project, and Wales is mandated, then carry out the studies (like Exxon); but they must be our own independent, with everything revealed to Guyana. That is the purpose of good governance; what honest and trustworthy leadership embodies; and what we need with this oil endowment, if Guyana wants to maximize the benefits. Personally speaking, there can be nothing simpler, more useful, and more persuasive, than an abundance of such practices with this oil. The PPP government has been the opposite study on most things related to oil, which opens the door to powerful conclusions about the integrity of its top-tier leadership.
Another disturbing moment was that KN’s disclosure, the praise of a former Guyanese oil man in good standing, suggested that the World Bank itself had advised against publicizing certain oil-related details. It happened, because the World Bank is supposed to be neutral (in theory and at least on paper); a kind of watchful and protective big brother on the side of the little boys. Guyana is not big, and desperately needs every muscular presence he can get. Guyanese do not have clean representation in the PPP government; at present, Guyanese lacks sound check and balance through highly respected opposition; and a hopeful Guyanese do not have an ethical and meaningful presence in civil society to be their champion. When a reputable organization like the World Bank advises not to release oil information, then the goose of this society is cooked and eaten. Make sure it is others, not the small locals who lose again.
On this note, I’m closing out with local content. There is local content, but it is mainly for our commercial interest, that they have no single word of disagreement to say how poorly and unreliably our oil is managed. This is because local content at enterprise level operates lucrative contracts with foreign companies. Members are shaking minds and jobs like mine, because that could frustrate the foreigners (and local political scoundrels), who upset their income statements. He explains that civil society is stunned from saying anything about oil: its nails are embedded in professional, technical, academic and religious ranks. Show them the money, and there’s their integrity, their patriotic dignity.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.)