UNDERSTANDABLY, Guyanese continue to greet the news of a massive oil find with much anticipation of the potential this resource holds for improving our standard of living. An oil find is always associated with aiding the wealth of a nation and its people, given its price on the world market. Yet this ‘black gold’ if not properly managed can bring hurt to the very society and people in which it has been discovered and who it ought to benefit.Admittedly, Guyana has a paucity of resources — human and otherwise — if any at all of harnessing and extracting this resource independent of foreign support. This find by Exxon, outside of the country providing the required indigenous framework– approval and laws — the exploitation will be at the behest of the brainpower of foreign nationals.

When laws lapse in ensuring that the resources of a nation be exploited to the benefit and development of its people, Guyanese stand to see our wealth being channelled to others, leaving us to rely on the ‘generosity’ of another.

If revenues garnered from oil wealth do not see widespread distribution in employment and economic opportunities for Guyanese, development in social services and infrastructure, the risk of entrenching two societies is real. A situation can occur — as evident in some oil-producing countries — where some areas are relatively more developed and others see the people living in squalor, denied opportunities, left to contend with crumbling infrastructure and the absence of quality social services.

Oil breeds greed and greed breeds corruption. In the absence of strong structures as in laws and an independent judiciary, and government that is uncompromising on the rule of law, corruption can run riot. Such corruption may occur not only within the industry, but also in the wider society, in the corridors of officialdom, and by the self-serving who mask their intent by presenting concerns about caring about the management of the wealth.

International advice being given by experts in avoiding pitfalls and ensuring prudent management of oil wealth for the people’s benefit cannot be taken with a grain of salt, or seen a mere following through with formality.

The presence and production of oil in the absence of strong regulatory frameworks, including sanctions and an eye to protecting the environment, can have dire consequences for the ecosystem. In small developing societies such as ours, it is hard not to find the influencing outlook that attracting foreign investment requires sacrificing preservation of the the environment and the rights and freedoms of citizens.

Exxon is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. The United States and Guyana are signatories to the United Nations’ Climate Change Agreement (2015). Both countries therefore, with the Government of Guyana leading the way, have to ensure that extraction, production and distribution are done with the aim of ensuring that the committed goal within the agreement of reducing greenhouse gas emission is attained. Another area where partnership can be solidified is that of ensuring the protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms and the environment in accordance with UN declarations.

Where the Government is pursuing a green economy, ensuring the industry adheres to best practices in sustainable development, protection of the environment, and respecting the local workforce will also boost its developmental thrust.

Given the deficit of local expertise in the oil industry, Guyana will see some importation of foreign skills and persons seeking opportunities that inevitably flow therefrom. A positive impact of this movement is the benefit that flows from diverse abilities as much as the expectation of government safeguarding the laws established to protect the citizens and their resources. What this means is that Guyanese must not return to the days of the bauxite and sugar industries when we were treated as second-class citizens in the land of our birth.

With oil, acts of aggression, covert and overt, internal and external, to the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will flare up every so often. As Guyanese must unite in the face of Venezuela’s aggression, unity must extend to those who disregard our laws, threaten the role of our police and those who safeguard our borders and defend our territorial integrity.

Oil is coming, along with its potential benefits and fallout. Avoiding pitfalls, though Exxon carries corporate responsibility to respect the host country’s resources — human, natural and revenue — such obligation is not a foregone conclusion in the absence of requisite laws, regulations and enforcement. The obligation to ensure this is not that of Exxon, but the Government of Guyana.