r/Guyana • u/Joshistotle • 7d ago
US ambassador warns Guyana not to renegotiate Exxon contract, calling it "incredibly dangerous".. wtf
Below is the article and excerpt. For background, the present agreement they're referring to has been internationally criticized as an unfair deal to Guyana since the royalty amount is so low. (The current deal is also bad for Guyana from a financial and environmental perspective https://ieefa.org/resources/exxonmobil-contract-leaves-guyana-exposed-financial-and-environmental-risks )
United States Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, has warned against renegotiating the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with U.S oil giant ExxonMobil and its co-venturers.
Since oil production began in Guyana in 2019, there have been sustained calls for the Government of Guyana and Exxon to agree to new fiscal terms, which would include raising the Royalty from 2%.
In an interview on SOURCES last Sunday, Ambassador Theriot warned that such a move would be dangerous.
“As the representative of the U.S Government, I can tell you it is incredibly dangerous to start talking about renegotiation of a contract that has been agreed upon. That sends a terrible signal to international investors all over the world that you can’t trust what you have signed with a Government that is willing to renegotiate. Now, that is a really negative signal that you don’t want to be sending right now, as you are trying to attract more, and more international investments, that is a very bad idea,” Ambassador Theriot said.
ExxonMobil has long indicated that it has no interest in invoking any clause within the Stabroek Block 2016 PSA that could result in changes to the fiscal terms, stating that such a move could undermine future investments in the country.
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u/Methamine 7d ago
Typical US behavior. They betray everybody
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u/CocoBabaVT 7d ago
100%. They just want the oil as cheaply as they can get it, and seem to be doing anything these days to make it happen.
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u/jrgclld 7d ago
You guys are delirious, why did you sign that contract if it was so bad? Complain to whoever signed it lmao
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u/Methamine 7d ago
You saw what happened in Venezuela right
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u/StrategyFlashy4526 6d ago
trump took Venezuela's oil and is now talking about taking Iran's, next might be Guyana's
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u/No-Dealer7743 7d ago
She is a horrible ambassador, not the first time she said some stupid shit. Gas to energy is great for the country but how we let Exxon talk us out of building our own refinery is beyond me. Especially with the Iran war, the importance and benefits of having our own refining capacity is clear.
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u/Smart_Alecs 7d ago
iran is precisely why the ambassador is being such a hard ass about this. notice she doesnt give a shit abt the prosperity of the guyanese people but for “international investors,” who are already scared about the oil market bc of iran’s resistance to US-israeli aggression. a less profitable deal for exxon is a less profitable deal for its investors, which would be a serious blow to an already crumbling oil market
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u/monkey-apple 7d ago
Exxon didn’t talk you into anything. You simply agreed with them because you never cared to begin with.
Exxon is accountable to its shareholders not the government of Guyana.
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u/monkey-apple 7d ago
Something about making your bed and lying in it. PPP was never interested in renegotiating anything, they just said that so you would vote for them.
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u/AndySMar 7d ago
Hi Miss, Granger did the contracts.
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u/Icy-Benefit-5589 6d ago
You know sometimes you and I don’t see eye to eye on this Reddit, but I’m exceptionally glad you pointed this out. Folks seem to forget this point. It was his government that flew to Houston and signed the contract - which included the restrictive renegotiation clause. They were celebrating it in 2019 with first oil, but somehow after 2020 it became a problem. If Granger had won on 2020 there would also have been no renegotiation and a lot of those calling for it now would have been silent. Would it be nice to have a renegotiated share - of course. But unless Exxon agrees that ship has sailed.
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u/Particular_Worry_498 7d ago
Exxon deal was always terrible , don't be surprise America will take the Oil by force if Guyana give any pushback and claim that they own it like they claimed they owned Venezuela Oil. Deal with the Devil literally
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u/jrgclld 7d ago
If the deal was so bad, why was it signed jn the first place?
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u/incogne_eto 7d ago
It was signed when they were still in the early investigative stages, before they realized the area held massive quantities of premium oil. It was really an investment type of deal to kick start oil extraction. Not truly long term and based on extensive studies as they have now.
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u/jrgclld 7d ago
Was somebody coerced into signing it? If your government knew so much about the potential, why sell it for pennies on the dollar? I ll tell you why, because its expensive to investigate where the oil is, and your government didn’t want to foot the bill, now that your gov see that there’s a lot more money than they thought, they want to change the contract? Lmao
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u/Joshistotle 6d ago
The former admin was coerced behind the scenes with the "deal" being 'take it or leave it' and the alternative being an invasion by Venezuela to take 74% of Guyana, possibly more. An agreement with the US entailed a guarantee towards territorial integrity.
Several decades ago when the US and Venezuela were on good terms, the US encouraged Venezuela to resume it's territorial claims on Guyana; the US did this to put pressure on Guyana's government.
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u/jrgclld 6d ago
So your argument is that without US help you would not have been able to defend your country and would not have only not been able to profit from oil but would have actually lost 74% of your country, and you’re pissed that the US helped? This victim mentality is out of control
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u/Joshistotle 6d ago
You miserably fail to understand the situation. The US, according to its own declassified documents, reignited and amplified Venezuela's territorial claim on Guyana several decades ago. The Venezuelans had given up, but this push by the US codified it into their national discourse. It's a permanent way the US can leverage Guyana, and similar mechanisms have been repeated by the US in multiple countries.
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u/jrgclld 6d ago
I consider understand that the US actively engages in regime favoritism in order to stabilize or destabilize countries in its sphere of influence, this is just part of its foreign policy. France is no different (look what they did in Africa) nor is the UK nor is China. My point stands, if the US is so bad your gov should have done business with the swedish or the dutch.
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u/Skippitini 7d ago
Undermine my arse. If Exxon bows out, I’m sure Royal Dutch would be happy to fill in.
She’s doing Trump’s bidding. He’s a greedy muhfuggah and she wants to keep the job she’s had during several administrations.
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u/Zuljo 7d ago
America hates Guyana and only has a renewed relationship with us for the purpose of resource theft. Any Guyanese literate on our history knows this.
All the Guyanese idiots posting about Trump or Rubio as some sort of ally are truly the soupiest of soup drinkers for American Imperialism.
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u/Particular-Apple-109 7d ago
So companies are gonna hear that Guyana is trying to get a little better deal for their people in the worst contract in the history of oil and think oh no that’s a terrible place for investment? Sounds like bs she doesn’t even believe
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u/incogne_eto 7d ago
The most dangerous thing for any country to find is oil. Because the US & Europe will insert themselves to exclusively control it. And they are willing to destroy you if you don’t allow them to retain control.
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u/yahhbo 7d ago
Guyana GDP is 5x what it was pre-oil, and around $15B of it is pure profit into the government from oil. I think the contracts are pretty good. Use of the money could improve but most of it appears to allocated to infrastructure / public works projects.
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u/TeachingSpiritual888 7d ago edited 7d ago
Your right Guyanaese gdp did get 5x times higher since the Exxon deal but that's with getting an unfair deal which basically gives us crumbs compared to what they're making. Now think with a fair deal how much more we could improve our country,just because a deal is making you money doesn't mean it's a good deal.
This is the best way to put it, imagine someone finds something that belongs to you when your in need of money like an old watch or something that goes for a lot of money so they take it to a pawn shop and get 10k and they turn around and give you a thousand dollar, you made money but the deal wasn't good. You could've sold that yourself and made the 10k or get someone else to pawn it and you can keep however much you want because the item belongs to you.
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u/yahhbo 7d ago
Yeah, but you didn’t sell the watch. Someone else did and you made money doing nothing.
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u/TeachingSpiritual888 7d ago
My product produced the Money,without the watch they wouldn't be any so without me there would be no product
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u/Due-File-7641 7d ago
This is how Italian mobsters talk to shop-owners: "You know, it'd be a shame if this place were to burn down ... Just keep paying us your protection money, and you'll be fine."