Dear Editor,
The Stabroek News Editorial of 13th April 2024 makes a bold assertion “Indeed, the 2016 PSA recognises the possibility that the two sides can renegotiate. So what is stopping President Ali and his government? What hold did ExxonMobil have over the APNU+AFC government? What hold does it now have on the PPP/C administration? That is the code that has to be broken.” I know of no clause in the 2016 PSA that allows for unilateral renegotiation and would ask Stabroek News to provide clarity to this claim as a matter of some urgency. Venezuela is actively collating such claims and presenting them to the International Court of Justice as evidence against Guyana’s control of Essequibo; previously Stabroek News has been prudent in this area, unlike other media outlets and personas but this editorial provides grist for the Venezuelan mill and demands correction.
To be pellucid, any contract can be renegotiated if both sides are willing and have something to gain, this is not what is being suggested by the author of the SN Editorial. While many ‘experts’ suggest that Guyana can get better terms, I am of the view that the 2016 PSA has by design or inadvertently been a boon for Guyana; we are in the midst of an unprecedented oil production boom, from discovery in May of 2015 to ‘First Oil’ Production December 2019 and presently producing 640,000 BPD (and climbing) whilst fortuitously enjoying high oil prices. This high oil price is allowing for earlier than forecast payoff of development costs and the time of 50+2% of oil produced (minus cost) is fast approaching and with it undreamed of prosperity for Guyanese.
Venezuela has presented boxes of articles, mostly from the Kaieteur News written by Guyanese that include the labeling of Exxon’s Country Manager as “President” and lamentations on the terms of the 2016 PSA to the ICJ, also included is Raphael Trotman’s book “Destiny to Prosperity”. The book has been grabbed upon by the Venezuelans as proof of a crime, Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez tweeted “… There is no perfect crime. A confession of a party. Thank you for all the details you provided about how Guyana, the US, and Exxon Mobil planned to take the Essequibo case to the International Court of Justice without the consent of Venezuela and in serious violation of the Geneva Agreement. Exxon paid Guyana’s lawyers and the entire lobby so that, together with US imperial diplomacy, they could influence the UN General Secretariat. Thank you, thank you, for so much relevant information about this new crime 125 years later!” Ms. Rodriguez is correct when she says there is no perfect crime; she is incorrect when she believes anything she reads in Trotman’s book; Guyanese know better having had a longer experience with the smoke and mirrors of the AFC comrade, who seems to have written a book to explain a ‘gift’. In a shameless act, Trotman took to X (formerly Twitter) to thank the Venezuelan VP Rodriguez for promoting his book.
Sincerely
Robin Singh
Editor-in-Chief’s note: The editorial does not say there should be a unilateral renegotiation of the 2016 PSA. There are, however, many ways in which ExxonMobil can be encouraged to return to the negotiating table to give life to Article 32.1 of the PSA. While it is understood that none of the clippings collected by the Venezuelans can have any material impact on the case before the ICJ, it appears that apologists for the PPP/C government are using that argument to shield it from the shame of doing nothing to rectify this abominable deal which resulted in the Whiptail rip-off.
