Routledge’s Bluefin pyrotechnics

Alistair Routledge has been too long in Guyana. In Guyanese speak, ‘he tink dat he alone gat sense.’ Mr. Routledge may even believe, like Jagdeo, that Guyanese ‘aint gat any sense’ worth talking about. In fact, Routledge has gotten so acclimated to Guyanese conditions that he has even joined the Bharrat Jagdeo jamboree, aka his way of communicating. For proof of what I assert there is this new oil discovery at the Bluefin well: “Our exploration program continues to improve our understanding of the block’s potential to drive oil-and-gas development. The latest find reinforces that we have the people, skills and technology to safely and responsibly deliver value to Guyana from the country’s resources” (Stabroek News March 16). I readily admit publicly that Routledge, the speaker, is a man of many skills. He easily qualifies to be an outstanding White House press secretary. Guyanese do well to note carefully how Routledge has adjusted Exxon’s discovery verbiage. What used to take all of one word (“significant” or “exciting”) requires volumes: three dozen and three words. Hence, I insist that America’s Routledge now belongs to the Jagdeo faculty of public communications. If the quantity of words in his elaboration was all, it would be allowable.

It was the beautiful porcelain with which Mr. Routledge embroidered his press announcement about what is now a routine in Guyana: another oil discovery. There were the not-so-subtle messages that this wise American corporate orator built into his announcement. I now proceed to dissect Routledge’s holy writ. Try this first piece of coquettishness “continues to improve our understanding.” To edify fellow citizens, what this clever American oilman is telling the Guyanese public is that his company doesn’t know how much oil the Bluefin well has in its reservoir. Nice try, Alistair. Whereas Exxon (and John Hess) used to race out of the blocks to share with the world the discrete details of a new discovery, up to the number of barrels, today the opposite rules. Today, the skilled people with the proven technology at Exxon are groping to “improve our understanding” of what the Stabroek Block holds and what the Bluefin well signifies. After over 100 years in the global oil business (1,000 in real years), and 25 years here, Exxon will have Guyanese know that it is still working for improvement in understanding of what is out there. How dumb do some people think that Guyanese are? It is why I have so much appreciation for Mr. Routledge, with his verbal figure skating given its proper weight.

Second, Routledge could not condescend to share how many barrels of oil the Bluefin well is estimated to hold. But look at where else this national oil head dragged Guyanese towards. The man, announcing the barrel-less discovery, seized the opportunity to drive home to Guyanese that Exxon has what it takes to “safely and responsibly deliver.” Somehow that sounds like a commercial intended to brainwash Guyanese that insurance may not be such a big deal after all. Why waste money? The more the people from Exxon speak, especially Mr. Routledge, the more I recall the Manchurian Candidate. Americans are getting better than Russians/North Koreans at brainwashing whole populations. He has Jagdeo putting in his insurance plugs. But not putting too much confidence in the weak and shaky local man, he dealt in “safely and responsibly deliver.” These are the people and circumstances that make me sometimes forget God (and American exceptionalism). Third, what Routledge kept for last was his icing on the new discovery cake. It was to “safely and responsibly deliver value…” For slow and unsteady locals, “deliver value” is Exxon’s code for maximum revenue in the future.

If that reads like a page out of the book that Routledge gave to Jagdeo and told him to stick religiously to every word, that is it. This is not an oil soap opera any longer. It is now one hell of an American comic opera with tragic undertones for Guyanese. Oil discoveries used to be an occasion for great fanfare from Exxon. Since Guyanese have been clamoring to know how many more barrels of oil have been found, the Exxon communication curtain came hurriedly down. With a big word of thanks to Mr. Routledge, it came back up again with the Bluefin well discovery. I am familiar with ‘dress to impress’. But what Routledge put out with Bluefin was speak to tweak. Share without nothing to spare. Announce to a dunce without giving an ounce. Whether Yellowtail or Whiptail or Bluefin, there is one result: Guyanese get a blackeye. Thanks for nothing, Alistair.