Updated Petroleum And Environmental Laws Will Keep Exxon In Check

Recently, we spoke about the modernization of our country’s petroleum laws. This is absolutely necessary to protect our oil wealth.
However, this need can be used by our politicians for their benefit and that of the international financial community. It can also provide the opportunity for the World Bank to lend us more money, thereby saddling us with further debt.

In the meantime, we must scrupulously monitor how our environmental laws are being enforced. Guyana’s environmental laws provide some protection against the excesses of the oil companies.
Exxon stands as the greatest threat, potentially the most likely polluter of our environment.
The company is in a hurry to extract the most oil in the shortest time, given its poor balance sheet, shareholder anxieties, and its contractually sanctioned ability to produce oil here cheaper than anywhere in the world.
Things are so good for Exxon in Guyana, that we are paying the bulk of the company’s expenses to produce our oil.

Modernizing petroleum laws without, at the same time updating the country’s environmental laws, will only invite more well-arranged reviews that benefit producers and politicians to the detriment of the country.
We must continue to watch, apply pressure, and implement our environmental laws with integrity and consistency while we modernize the country’s petroleum laws.
Updated petroleum and environmental laws will keep Exxon in check, make it think twice about abusing our resources and give us much-needed breathing room to protect the environment.