Exxon Mobil announced last week that it made its 13th oil discovery offshore of Guyana. upping .its reserve estimates from 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent to about 5.5 billion barrels.
Oil production stays on course to start in early 2020. And the Minister of Finance recently told a Canadian Forum the country is expected to produce ONE MILLION barrels of oil per day by 2025.
The government will get a windfall that could transform the fortunes of Guyana’s 750,000 people.
No doubt that THE OIL will raise the POLITICAL STAKES and the party that wins the upcoming election is most likely to share the spoils with its own constituency while neglecting the opposition base and that automatically falls along racial lines -- much like TRINIDAD and TOBAGO.
With the control of BILLIONS of new found DOLLAR$ suddenly at stake, it is possible to imagine several scenarios -- mostly bad. The worst being political turmoil escalating to the point of tension between Indian and African communities. And when the inevitable POLITICAL CORRUPTION raises its usual head and word or suspicion gets to the people, if the wrong party is in power -- CIVIL WAR is not out of the picture.
My sincerest hope is that the GUYANESE POLITICIANS (on both sides of the racial divide) work to avoid a constitutional crisis and put the welfare of THE NATION (NATION BUILDING) above GREED and POLITICAL AMBITION..
Hell, with almost 6 BILLION BARRELS of oil (and more discoveries along the way) and a small population of only 750,000 people -- that PIE is big enough for EVERYBODY TO GET A BIG BITE and live in HARMONY and PROSPERITY for GENERATIONS TO COME.
EXXON takes 3 billion barrels and Guyana gets 3 billion barrels. At $60 a barrel, and allowing for $30.00 a barrel in production costs GUYANA is looking at 90 BILLION DOLLARS in OIL REVENUES. And that does not include the 2% Royalty fee OFF THE TOP.
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