Dear Editor,
The fact that Exxon could have secured such massive insurance coverage (US$2.5 billion) at one of the smallest and newest insurance companies in Guyana certainly raises eyebrows (SN July 22, 2019). Diamond Insurance does not even have a website, and as far as I can tell, does not employ any insurance professionals in its small staff.
How then did this tiny company convince Exxon, estimated to be the fourth biggest oil company in the world, that it could provide US$2.5 billion in cover, and have the expertise to manage such business, claims, processes and everything else?
The Exxon Country Manager’s many public assurances that Exxon was committed to a transparent process needs to be fact-checked in this instance.
Did Exxon approach the insurance industry in Guyana in a transparent manner for insurance services? How did Exxon evaluate these proposals, if any?
This whole deal is as troubling as the Exxon Country Manager’s claims that, “..there will be no spillage or accidents,’ (SN July 22, 2019) when even a cursory web search would reveal the disastrous Exxon Valdez (1989) spill cost of US$7 billion, with tens of thousands of claims and environmental devastation. The search would also reveal that among the thousands of oil spills that occur each year, just six years ago (2013) there was another Exxon spill in Mayflower, Arkansas.
BP, the next biggest oil giant had its Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, with a reported estimated cost of US$62 billion!
There are more questions than answers.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address
provided)