Dear Editor,
The headlines in the two Guyanese newspapers and one online entity that I read all spoke late last week of BP being awarded a one-year contract to market our oil. It is a development that has its merits, though I thought that the bidder from a neighbouring CARICOM country had all that was required to get the job done. I also wondered why the Norwegians didn’t come out ahead, given that country’s reputation for ‘clean hands.’ BP’s success, though, could have hinged on the continuing role of the British in this country, and its friendly pronouncements on national elections, local government elections, and visa free elections. In other words, favour for favour.
Editor, I note one part of the BP agreement, which should be beneficial to this country. It requires British Petroleum to provide Guyana with detailed information related to its marketing activities that would give this country a clear understanding how the crude market works. It would be an education that Guyana needs most urgently because we are now living in another area of the complex oil world. We need a long and deep education about spot prices, futures, forwards, swaps, and the rest of the exotic language of commodities buying and selling. I think that as much as books and theory are helpful, we have to live these things to obtain the best understanding of what is happening with every tanker of oil that sails from our offshore oilfields, and at every step of the way.
We must gain more than passing knowledge of refineries and refining, types of crude, trading entities and platforms, and those wearing Rolexes and Armani. They are called traders. We must study ahead of time what a hurricane, or a conflict in some faraway land, means, and the same also for tanker traffic. It would be better to be up at all hours to get the fullest understanding possible of the oil markets, as they are in action. This would be a start in protecting Guyana’s interests. Editor, we have already been taken for a dime and rhyme with the 2016 PNC-Exxon oil contract (oil sold up the creek), and the subsequent PPP brainless, spineless giveaways (projects sold down the drain).
Those oil matters are what comes up at the wells, and we have been skinned alive. On land is where the marketing and trading (selling, bartering, and scheming) can also be enriching. Let us keep our eyes open, keep a clear head, and keep a clean nose for any tricks and shenanigans. In essence, marketing must not be another avenue for Guyana to be left in the dust.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall