Exxon And Hess Give Thanks For A Turkey Named Guyana

Guest Commentary By Christopher Ram

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. Dec. 9., 2024: Thanksgiving made its presence felt in Guyana with the Black Friday sale looked forward to by shoppers spending on things they do not need because they will save on Black Friday spending. The idea is an incident of Thanksgiving – a day dedicated by Americans for gratitude and feasting and celebrating their blessings and abundance.

This column can report that the celebration took on a uniquely Guyanese flavor in Exxon and Hess’s boardrooms. At their table, the center piece was not just a golden turkey lathered with Guyana oil, but the entire country of Guyana, with steam rising from its golden-brown oil wealth, its aroma drawing corporate vultures and shareholders to circle the feast. It was all made more sumptuous by a phalanx of politicians, professionals, regulatory institutions, and the national cricket franchise providing the stuffing – a mix of ingredients ensuring that the carving proceeded smoothly, with no obstacle along the way.

A feast of broken promises

Before the 2020 elections, Guyana’s now President and chief Vice President thundered against selling out the national patrimony to ExxonMobil, Hess, and CNOOC. They promised to renegotiate terms to ensure fairness, national benefit, and justice. But once in power, these lofty promises dissipated into silence, replaced by the chant of “sanctity of contract.”

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Today, Guyana faces its own existential threats. While the weapons are not smallpox, blankets and muskets, the environmental degradation from oil spills and gas flaring poses similar dangers to national health. The economic exploitation through a skewed contract drains the nation’s wealth as surely as land theft impoverished Native nations. Adding cruel irony to injury, Guyanese citizens now face deportation from the United States under harsh immigration policies – forced to return to a homeland whose resources are being carved up by American corporations.

Politicians as the stuffing

As every Thanksgiving host knows, stuffing is essential to the turkey. At Exxon’s table, a blend of political, legal and regulatory actors ensured that the feast remained undisturbed, each ingredient playing its part in this corporate banquet of exploitation. Here is the bio of some of these players.

The Politicians: Guyana’s political class forms the base of bland and backboneless stuffing crumbs, lacking substance but quick to soak up corporate arguments. These include the leaders who once promised renegotiation but now serve Guyana as the turkey on a platter, parroting Exxon’s line about frightening investors and ruining Guyana’s reputation. Their evolution from defenders to enablers was the toast of the occasion.

The Attorney General: Like spicy sausage, he adds energy and legalese to the stuffing. The AG’s role goes beyond passivity to active defence. In court actions challenging the environmental and contractual terms of oil operations, he frequently appears as a disguised advocate for the oil companies, wrapping corporate interests in the language of national benefit.

The EPA: is like celery without the crunchiness, stringy and hollow, having lost its voice, brains, and direction. It fails to hold Exxon accountable for environmental risks, leaving citizens to bear the dangers of oil spills, flaring, and ecological degradation. Its weakness in the face of environmental threats speaks volumes about institutional capture.

Professionals and civil society: Most are like dried cranberries, adding a sheen of professionalism, patriotism and independence while helping to draft contracts, massage numbers and engage in creative writing to perpetuate the status quo. Only a rare few – willing to risk a plate at the table – stand up for the people, offering a faint but vital glimmer of resistance.

Amazon Warriors and their supporters: At the national sports stadium, cricket fans wave at foreign cricketers wearing the Exxon shirt alongside the Golden Arrowhead – nationalism slowly drowning in a sea of corporate branding.

Guyana on the table

The turkey itself – Guyana’s oil wealth – is as vast as it is vulnerable. With billions of barrels in recoverable reserves, the country should be poised for transformative development. Yet the contract terms leave Guyana with only a fraction of the profits while requiring the nation to reimburse the oil companies for their expenses, including taxes paid abroad.

No Thanksgiving feast is complete without a drink, and Exxon and Hess have the perfect accompaniment: Guyana’s light sweet crude. Former Minister Raphael Trotman once remarked that it is “so sweet you can almost drink it.” And drink it, Exxon and Hess do straight from the source, savoring every drop as Guyanese have no clue of their operations and how they managed to cede sovereignty. For them, Guyana oil is not just raw crude to be refined but is the driver of profits and dividends for Americans and crumbs for Guyanese.

A new threat to sovereignty

Now U.S. lawyers press to practice their trade in Guyana, violating the Local Content Act and national and regional arrangements governing the training and practice of lawyers. This mirrors historical patterns of external forces seeking to dominate Guyana’s resources and institutions. Such an incursion would dilute local legal services and undermine the very laws meant to protect the country. Like the Exxon contract, this demand represents yet another attempt to erode Guyana’s sovereignty under the guise of progress and partnership.

A call for courage

Contracts are not sacred texts. They are tools created by humans to be revisited when they fail to serve the greater good. Guyana’s leaders must break free from serving at the Thanksgiving feast to fulfill their sacred duty as guardians of the nation’s sovereignty and resources. To end the epicurean analogy, Guyana needs more vegetarians, unwilling to participate in Exxon’s feast. While Exxon & Co carve up Guyana’s wealth and politicians line up as ingredients, the vegetarians stand apart, un-tempted by this gluttonous banquet. Their conscience, like their diet, refuses to consume what is tainted by exploitation.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Christopher Ram is Guyanese accountant and lawyer who has been an outspoken critic of the unfair Stabroek Oil Contract that Guyana signed with Exxon and its partners. He teaches at the University of Guyana.