Over the last few weeks, Exxon has been busy reassuring its shareholders they will receive their dividend cheques and donating meals and cash to those in need in New Mexico and Texas. This signals where Exxon’s priorities lie, in terms of those who benefit from the profits of its operations, and it is clearly not the Guyanese people.
Currently, Exxon is engaged in massive capital and operations reductions. Exxon has stated it plans to reduce most of the operations in the Permian basin. This basin spans New Mexico and Texas. However, it has not indicated any deep cuts for its operations in Guyana. This would make financial sense because Exxon’s breakeven cost for its offshore operations in Guyana is significantly lower than those in the Permian basin.
On Tuesday of this week, the CEO of Exxon, Darren Woods, appeared on one of the major financial media outlets, CNBC, to state that it won’t cut its dividend. His reasoning was that many retail shareholders depend on those dividends. Last year, Exxon paid US$14.7 billion dollars in dividends. How many of the 780,000 Guyanese living in Guyana benefited from Exxon’s dividend payout last year or will benefit from a similar amount this year? The answer is probably close to zero.
