By Darshanand Khusial
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. August 8, 2022: Exxon recently reported record quarterly earnings of $17.9 billion. This is almost 12 times the budget used to run Guyana for a year. There is no doubt that Exxon executives are celebrating with bottles of wine that cost hundreds of US dollars. It’s no secret that Exxon has bet its future on Guyana and is starting to reap the benefits.
A 200 km deepwater oil discovery offshore Guyana was reported in 2015 and the first barrels of oil were produced in December 2019. Today, more than 360,000 barrels of oil per day are produced in Guyana, generating revenues for the Exxon consortium of over $37 million per day at current oil prices. About 41% of Guyanese live on less than $5.50 a day, which amounts to a total of $1.8 million a day for the 335,000 Guyanese living in poverty.
Our oil is generating income that is 20 times more than our 335,000 people live on a daily basis. It’s been 7 years since oil was discovered, but 41% of the people in Guyana live mostly on biscuits and water for breakfast and dinner, while oil company executives and their shareholders toast each other from Guyana’s oil wealth.
The natural resource curse or paradox of plenty is when countries in Guyana’s situation – where they are blessed with an abundance of natural resources – develop poorly compared to less fortunate countries. In Guyana’s case, the world’s envy of 11 billion barrels of light sweet oil seems to have had little benefit so far for most Guyanese now that we are in our fourth year of oil production.
OGGN advocates stopping this exploitation of Guyana’s resources through contracts that do not appear to benefit the majority of the Guyanese people. One way OGGN achieves its goal is to educate the public on issues related to Guyana’s oil. On August 13th, 2022, OGGN will hold a Guyana Petroleum Symposium in New York City. There will be a panel of Guyanese subject matter experts presenting in a language the general public can understand. Topics will range from:
- The need for full liability coverage for an oil spill – Dr Vincent Adams
- Impacts of oil production on Guyana’s environment and coastal livelihoods – Dr Janette Bulkan
- Money to be made available in the Natural Resources Fund – Dr Tarron Khemraj
- Tax Lawsuit Against Oil Companies – Chris Ram
- The cost of living in an oil economy – Red Thread
The presenters will shed light on how Guyana can avoid the resource curse. The presenters are active members of civil society who have been fighting for a better Guyana for many years.
The event will be held at the Sri Lakshmi Temple, 128-04 Liberty Ave, Queens, New York (Liberty Avenue & 128 Street in Richmond Hill, NY) on Saturday, August 13, between 2 and 5 pm EST. If you plan to attend, please reserve your place by sending an email to [email protected].
Find out more about OGGN HERE
EDITOR’S NOTE: Darshanand Khusial is part of the non-profit Oil and Governance Network and a financial researcher with qualifications in management accounting and securities. He is also an IT expert who once served as the lead designer on the engine behind some of the world’s largest retail sites. He holds a Masters and Bachelors in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto. He has 15 granted patents in the e-commerce software, augmented reality, retail and dental fields.
