Exxon pumped $2.7B into economy

GLOBAL oil giant, ExxonMobil, has expended more than $2.7 billion over the past five years on social programmes across all 10 administrative regions, in Guyana. ExxonMobil is firmly established in Guyana, operating an office in Georgetown with numerous ongoing exploration and development operations offshore. The company has made 18 discoveries since May 2015 and began production in December 2019 from its Liza Phase one development project. Outside of its commercial operations, the company has contributed heavily to social programmes in Guyana, with its most recent donations in 2020 reaching more than $285 million. According to a statement from ExxonMobil, those funds were invested through contributions and sponsorships of various organisations and activities, in 2020.

Nearly $140 million of the $285 million have gone towards helping students, other vulnerable groups and the government to adjust to the pervasive novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Other contributions have helped women start businesses, people train for jobs and wildlife organisations study and conserve Guyana’s unique natural heritage, among other causes.
The Iwokrama International Centre for rainforest conservation received a donation for its science programme, which focuses on community relations, biodiversity, climate change and hydrology projects, fundraising, publications and capital equipment. ExxonMobil also contributed to the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) for the creation and airing of educational-based programmes on television and radio, for students preparing to write national and regional examinations The Volunteer Youth Corps also benefitted from continuous

STEM education programmes, while the specialists in Sustained Youth Development and Research (SSYDR) received funds to conduct a job readiness summer camp for disadvantaged youths.
The oil and gas company also extended support to STEM Guyana, the Rotary Club of Stabroek, WeLead Caribbean and the Blue Flame Women’s Group from Region One (Barima-Waini).
“This is one of the tangible gestures of our commitment to important social programmes here in Guyana. Contrary to one media report, these donations are funded directly by ExxonMobil and will not be part of the cost recovery mechanism under the Stabroek PSA,” said ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge. ExxonMobil and its prime contractors have also spent over $300 million with more than 700 local companies since 2015. More than 2,500 Guyanese companies are registered with the Centre for Local Business Development, which was founded by ExxonMobil and its co-venturers in 2017, to build local business capacity to support global competitiveness. ExxonMobil affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, is an operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Stabroek Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd. holds 30 per cent interest and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds 25 per cent interest.

Bloomberg had reported recently that ExxonMobil, Pfizer and Raytheon Technologies were kicked out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as part of the stock benchmark’s biggest reshuffling in seven years. According to the report, while any change to the Dow is notable, the ejection of ExxonMobil — the world’s biggest company as recently as 2011 — marks a particularly stunning fall from grace, reflecting the decline of commodity companies in the American economy. Worth $525 billion in 2007 and more than $450 billion as recently 2014, the stock had fallen in four of six years before 2020 and is down another 40 per cent since January. Despite those constraints, Guyana has already received close to US$150 million from the sale of crude, which is being produced by ExxonMobil’s Liza phase one development.