Exxon record-breaking profits

ExxonMobil keeps breaking its own profit records. Howeverwellthecompanydidinpreviousgoodyears,2022 blewallthosetopieces.ExxonMobilmadetheastronomical sum of US$55.7B, almost 14 times Guyana’s 2023 budget for the whole country ExxonMobil made US$55.7B in 2022, while Guyana barely crept over the US$1B mark in whatwasdepositedinthiscountry’sUS-housedoilfund.

Though, there is understanding and acceptance that ExxonMobil earned some of its billions from the Permian Basin and other places, plus other businesses, Guyana’s high-quality,cheapoilhadtobeasignificantcontributorto thecompany’sprofitsthatarenowtheenvyoftheworld.

In 2021, the company’s CEO, Darren Woods, total compensation package was about US$23.5M, which is a pretty penny for any one man by any consideration. Now, using variations of Mr Woods’s earnings, with his own as the highest, this could be estimated to mean that the total compensation package for the top 100employees of ExxonMobil, added together, was close, if not more than Guyana’s total oil take, as deposited in the National ResourceFundaccountintheFederalReserveBankofNew York.Foremphasis,onapureapproximationbasis,the100 most highly compensated (salaries, bonus, stock options) most likely made more money than between 750,000 to 780,000 Guyanese, this country’s entire population, got fromtheirimmenseoilwealth.

To look at this from another angle, the sum of the total compensation packages for the 200-300 ExxonMobil workersrewardedinthehighestmonetarytermsisbiggerby abundleofbillionsthanGuyana’srecordbreakingnational budget for 2023. Whether the ExxonMobil top worker to local population comparison is used, or a near similar subgroup of ExxonMobil employees is put to the side of Guyana’sbiggestbudget,thiscountryanditscitizensalways end up on the losing side of the equation. Or as His Excellency,PresidentAlididsay,holdingthe“wrongendof thestick.” Ifthisisnothighseasandhighwayrobberyofthe worst sort, then somebody please give us a hand on where andhowwearegoingwrong.

Darren Woods made US$23 plus million in 2022. In viewofhiscompanyshatteringitspreviousprofitrecord,it is inevitable that Mr Woods will break the bank with his 2022compensationpackage. Therehastobesomereward forhavingGuyanapoliticalleaderseatingoutofhishands, runningaroundtofillhiscommandsandexpectations. Heis easily going to rise to somewhere between US$25M to US$30M, looking at this conservatively DarrenWoods is breakingthebankfromGuyana’scheapoil,whileGuyanese areliningupinthehopethattheirbankstillstandswithsome money remaining in its vaults for them. The highflying, fancy talking Alistair Routledge, ExxonMobil’s Guyana Country Head is guaranteed his fat share of money for keeping the PPPC Government and Guyanese people on a shortleash.

This is the raw, ragged roguishness of this great Guyanese oil treasure. ExxonMobil cruising at 35,000 feet counting its profits from Guyana’s free oil (almost), while Guyanese are forced to claw about in the weeds for any pittancethattheycanclamptheiremptyhandsupon. From our standpoint, something is really disturbing about this nightmareofapicture. Thepoor,agonizedcitizensofthis countrycannotgetabreak. TheCoalitionAPNU+AFCsold out their birthright for a giveaway price, and there were howls of protest from all over Now, it is the PPPC Government’s in charge, and its top people are just as hamstrung and hobbled as the former Coalition, but even more fearful of asking for a better deal for Guyana. The difference today is that fewer and fewer Guyanese are getting in the faces of the President and Vice President to demandthattheygetmoreforus.

In fact, there are Guyanese now cheering what ExxonMobil is doing to this country and its citizens under thesame2016oilcontractthattheywereoncecursing,what theywerecallingacrimewithoutcompare.Thepoliticians keep Guyanese in this state, so that they can steal at will, whileforeignersgetricher,andlocalsareontheirknees.