OPINION: Thanks to Exxon’s Routledge, look at what oil discoveries have become

Last Updated on Saturday, 16 March 2024, 14:20 by Denis Chabrol

by GHK Lall
President Alistair Routledge has been too long in Guyana.  In Guyanese speak, ‘he tink dat he alone gat sense.’  Mr. Routledge may even believe, like President Jagdeo, that Guyanese aint gat any sense worth talking about.  In fact, President Routledge has gotten so acclimated to Guyanese conditions that he has even joined the President Bharrat Jagdeo jamboree, aka his way of communicating.  Some may say that it is the other way around.  For proof of what I assert there is this new oil discovery at the Bluefin well, the first for 2024.

“Our exploration program continues to improve our understanding of the block’s potential to drive oil-and-gas development.  The latest find reinforces that we have the people, skills and technology to safely and responsibly deliver value to Guyana from the country’s resources” (Demerara Waves March 15 and Stabroek News March 16).  I readily admit publicly that President Alistair Routledge, the speaker, is a man of many skills.  He easily qualifies to be an outstanding White House press secretary (under any party) for any situation.  Guyanese do well to note carefully how Excellency Routledge has adjusted Exxon’s discovery verbiage.  What used to take all of one word (“significant” or “exciting”) has now taken on the volume of three dozen and three words.  See what I mean when I insist that America’s Routledge now belongs to the Jagdeo faculty of public communications.  If the quantity of words in his elaboration was all, it would be a passable, allowable moment.  It was the beautiful porcelain with which Mr. Routledge embroidered his press announcement about what is now a routine in Guyana: another oil discovery.  There were the not-so-subtle messages that this wise American corporate orator built into his announcement.  He has learned well from his silent Chinese partners. The offshore Stabroek Block has so much oil in it that the water and mud near to it have all disappeared.  Just like the fish.  I now proceed to dissect President Routledge’s holy writ.

Try this first piece of coquettishness “continues to improve our understanding.”  For the edification of my fellow citizens, what this clever American oilman is telling the Guyanese public is that his company doesn’t know how much oil the Bluefin well has in its reservoir.  Nice try, Alistair.  It was something similar that Jim Jones told a group of Americans in a jungle commune here.  He led them up a primrose path with a song and dance, until the music stopped.  Whereas Exxon (and John Hess) used to race out of the blocks to share with the world the discrete details of a new discovery, up to the number of barrels, today the opposite rules.  Today, the skilled people with the proven technology at Exxon are groping to “improve our understanding” of what the Stabroek Block holds and what the Bluefin well signifies.  After over 100 years in the global oil business (1000 in real years), and 25 years here, Exxon will have Guyanese know that it is still working for improvement in understanding of what is out there.  How dumb do some people think that Guyanese are?  It is why I have so much appreciation for Mr. Routledge, with his verbal figure skating given its proper weight.

Second, Prez. Routledge could not condescend to share how many barrels of oil the Bluefin well is estimated to hold.  But look at where else this national oil head dragged Guyanese towards.  The man announcing the barrel-less discovery seized the opportunity to drive home to Guyanese that Exxon has what it takes to “safely and responsibly deliver.”  Somehow that sounds like a commercial intended to brainwash Guyanese that insurance may not be such a big deal after all.  Why waste money?  The more the people from Exxon speak, especially Mr. Routledge, the more I recall the Manchurian Candidate.  The Americans are as good, if not better, than the Russians at brainwashing whole populations.  He has Jagdeo putting in his insurance plugs.  But not putting too much confidence in the weak and shaky local man, he dealt in “safely and responsibly deliver.”  These are the people and circumstances that make me somewriumews  forget God (and American exceptionalism).

Third, it was what Prez Routledge kept for last that was his icing on the new discovery cake.  It was to “safely and responsibly deliver value…”.  For slow and unsteady locals, “deliver value” is Exxon’s code for maximum revenue in the future.  If that reads like a page out of the book that Routledge gave to Jagdeo and told him to stick religiously to every word, that it is.  This is not an oil soap opera any longer.  It is now one hell of an American comic opera with tragic undertones for Guyanese.

Oil discoveries used to be an occasion for great fanfare from Exxon.  Since Guyanese have been clamoring to know how many more barrels of oil have been found, the Exxon communication curtain came hurriedly down.  With a big word of thanks to Mr. Routledge, it came back up again with the Bluefin well discovery.  I am familiar with ‘dress to impress’.  But what President Routledge put out with Bluefin was speak to tweak.  Share without nothing to spare.  Announce to a dunce without giving an ounce.  Whether Yellowtail or Whiptail or Bluefin, there is one result: Guyanese get a blackeye.  Thanks for nothing, Alistair.