OPINION: Alistair Rouledge: from oil leader to reserves rover

Last Updated on Monday, 23 March 2026, 22:15 by Writer

By GHK Lall

There’s much regard for Mr. Alistair Routledge, American oilman in Guyana. Exxon doesn’t put weaklings, dummies, misfits, or lamebrains in charge of a country’s operation. Not when big billions are involved. Not when fancy verbal footwork becomes an inseparable part of the Guyana oil walk. Alistair has developed the deftness of Ali at slipping a question that packs a punch. The same nimbleness of foot and mouth when a sharp, probing right cross heads for his head.

Exxon’s 2025 Annual Report proudly informed readers that “Additions to proved reserves include 2.1 GOEB (billion oil-equivalent barrels) from extensions and discoveries primary in the United States and Guyana and 0.1 GOEB related to United States acquisitions.” Clean as a whistle and clearer than a bullhorn. But there was Mr. Routledge doing his best imitation of a rover. How many of those new 2.1 billion barrels to proved reserves are from Guyana? Somebody in GT mistakenly thought that he was born yesterday, and prematurely. Not he; no sirree! Try this for versatility, adaptability, and the crafty. I copyright him the Oil Fox.

Instead of a straight answer through a straight number, he did a number on his questioner and all Guyana. Mr. Routledge decided that it was best to proceed on a roving expedition. From Exxon’s Guyana headman to Exxon’s roving ambassador. So that he cannot be pinned to a point, or a number. He commenced to give a dissertation on the distinction between “resource” and “reserves.” From Texas cow country to what could be his thinking of an illiterate, backwoods, and gonzo country. It’s Guyana. If that’s his probable thinking, then Guyanese have just been insulted beyond measure. The question could not have been simpler. How much of that addition of 2.1 billion barrels of oil to Exxon’s inventory is from Guyana?

Exxon’s 2025 Annual Report can present an addition to proven reserves, only for Guyanese to discover that Mr. Routledge lost his skills at subtraction. A total of 2.1 billion came from US and Guyana fields, but the man who once informed natives of Exxon’s “world class accounting systems” is unable to take that same 2.1 billion and subtract all new US oil and say that these remaining barrels are from Guyana. Unable or unready? Dr. Routledge now reminds me of two things. A chemo drip and Dr. Ashni Singh’s “national development priorities” involving oil billions withdrawn from Guyana’s Oil Fund. The slow trickle of chemotherapy drops cannot be separated one from the other, which is why many hopeful patients arrive in the mortuary (shock to systems). And, in the Guyana scholar’s case, the billions are so mixed up that the best he can do is to mix up the minds of Guyanese some more. By now, Guyanese and Americans should have a fair appreciation of why Drs. Routledge and Singh are among my most treasured friends. Who needs to push anybody to get mad at them?

Then, there was this other magic moment. Unerringly, Mr. Exxon moved from rover to Drifter, a member of those of illustrious musical lore. “It doesn’t move to ‘proved’ (resources) until you fund a project.” Thus, a new dimension is introduced into Guyana’s oil lexicon. Will somebody tell me that he didn’t say so? It boggles the mind, brutalizes the soul, that a man of Routledge’s class and sterling ability could stoop to such depths. Once the oil is found it is proved. Whether one gallon of oil or a billion barrels, it is proved, it is there. It is still oil and cannot be unproven. Whether commercially feasible or a loser of an oilfield, it is still a tangible, visible, voluble field of oil. Having fornicated the minds of Guyanese, perhaps Guyana’s share of that new 2.1 billion barrels in the Exxon Annual Report is reserved for fracking possibilities later. Recall some quantities of found oil left back, but revisited later when circumstances facilitate. Did people in the Office of the President write that slop for Mr. Routledge to present?

By Mr. Routledge’s logic, when Exxon announced the first oil discovery in Guyana, funding was in hand. Makes it proven. Similarly, the later announced discoveries. Something is wrong when bank reserves take precedence over proven oil reserves. Funding gives oil viscosity and sulphurous texture. When Alistair Routledge’s transforms into a rover, that’s the giveaway.