Force majeure, shareholder messaging and a history of accommodation (Part II)
Every Man, Woman and Child in Guyana Must Become Oil-Minded – Column 175 Today’s column concludes a two-part piece arising from comments made by ExxonMobil’s Chief Executive Officer during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. When Darren Woods spoke of force majeure “pausing the clock,” he was addressing shareholders and the wider investment community, not the…
The Gov’t must clarify Guyana’s position on ExxonMobil’s CEO Woods’ comment about ‘force majeure’
In Guyanese Creolese, the word ‘basiddey’ means ‘being in a state of mental disorientation or confusion, dazed, dumbfounded’. The oil giant ExxonMobil certainly seems to have acquired expertise in sowing a state of ‘basiddey’ in successive governments in Guyana. Relinquishing areas Last year, in early July 2025, the government announced that ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL)…
Why is the full report of the 2022 national census so important?
By Janette Bulkan and John Palmer The information sheet for the US national census and household survey in 2020 states briefly the objectives: ‘The Census provides us with data on the National, State, and Local levels that help define who we are as a nation and the makeup of the people that live in this country. Data…
Force majeure is not a pause button (Part I)
On 31 January 2026, carried a story that exposes how surreptitiously Exxon seeks to draw every drop of blood – sorry, oil – from Guyana. The report once again brings the issue of force majeure sharply into focus. Force majeure is a contractual mechanism intended to grant additional time where performance has been genuinely and…
Guyana’s public finances need fiscal equivalent of Ozempic
Introduction Out of what is widely acknowledged as a blatant violation of international law, the entry of United States forces into Venezuela has produced one piece of good news for Guyana. Whatever the legal controversy surrounding that intervention, its practical effect has been to neutralise Venezuela’s capacity to pursue its fanciful claim to the entire…
It’s oil, stupid
Deportees, Trump and the price of oil The Government of Guyana has announced that it has agreed to accept foreign deportees from the United States – persons who are not Guyanese nationals. The announcement was made calmly, almost casually – by one of the “family” – as if it were a routine domestic arrangement. There…
The monitoring of oil tanker traffic from Guyana
By Janette Bulkan, Kenrick Hunte, Darsh Khusial, John Palmer, Mike Persaud and Andre Brandli On 10 December 2025, the seizure by United States military forces of the Skipper, a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) oil tanker falsely flying the Guyana flag, off the Venezuelan coast, made front page news in Guyana and around the world. Ten days later, on…
Zero tax position should be revisited
Thinking taxes, especially removing a part of Government tax base should be approached with caution as Christopher Ram alluded to in SN-2025-12-22. In a fast growing economy the tax base should also be growing, in order to cater to Government social safety net spending in an environment of rising prices that the poor faces. An…
Government must release all oil and gas related data retrieved from oil companies to the public
The Minister for Natural Resources, like Christopher Columbus, has discovered that Guyana’s petroleum legislation allows for retrieval of information generated by the oil companies; see ‘Govt. demands immediate information on oil discoveries in new PSA’ and ‘Exxon must provide daily drill data, ROV images’, both in Kaieteur News (December 9, 2025). Minister Vickram Bharrat referenced…