1 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,560 Speaker 1: We interrupt this program to bring you a breaking near story. 2 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 2: US oil giant Exxon strikes oil in Guyana. 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,600 Speaker 3: Now one of the prominent election issues in Guyana has 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 3: been the country's oil exploration efforts. 5 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 4: They were rumors swirling that Ganna had found oil. 6 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 3: Sound like almost all its neighbors, Guyana is not yet 7 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 3: an oil producer, but last week Eggxon Mobil announced it 8 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 3: had discovered oil off the coast. 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,879 Speaker 5: In May twenty fifteen, Exon Mobil announced that it had 10 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 5: struck oil off the coast of the small South American 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 5: country of Guyana. And in Guyana, this was a big deal, 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 5: And then just a couple months later, Exon was making 13 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 5: headlines for another reason entirely. An investigation is underway into Exon, 14 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 5: the huge oil company married research about the effects of 15 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,479 Speaker 5: climate change. Reports suggests more than thirty years ago, Exon's 16 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 5: own scientists were taking climate change projections into account in 17 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 5: its operational plans. 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 4: Exon was on the cutting edge of science. 19 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:17,839 Speaker 5: They wanted to be on the cutting edge of science. 20 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 4: Forty years ago, on climate. 21 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 5: Change journalists at Inside Climate News, the La Times, and 22 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 5: Columbia Journalism School published dozens of internal documents that showed 23 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:33,119 Speaker 5: that Exon Mobile had been warned by its own scientists 24 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 5: about climate change back in the nineteen seventies, and yet 25 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,559 Speaker 5: had worked hard to keep the world from ever hearing 26 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 5: those warnings or taking them seriously. Exon rushed to defend 27 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 5: its record. It criticized the journalists. It ran tons of 28 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 5: social media ads and videos that would pop up every 29 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 5: time you searched Exon climate on Google. It claimed the 30 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 5: whole story was part of an organized plat against it. 31 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 5: But it was hard to deny the hundreds of internal 32 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 5: documents that the company itself had put in its corporate 33 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 5: archive at the University of Texas Library. It was all there, 34 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 5: in black and white, predictions of warming temperatures, rising seas, 35 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 5: fires and hurricanes, models and charts that showed exactly what 36 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 5: we're dealing with today. Story after story painted Exon as 37 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,360 Speaker 5: the world's climate villain. And it was at this moment 38 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 5: that Guyana, a country on the frontlines of the global 39 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,639 Speaker 5: climate crisis and one of the few South American nations 40 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 5: to stay out of oil throughout its history, emerged as 41 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 5: a new oil state thanks to Exxon. As time went on, 42 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 5: Exon began projecting that oil from Guyana would make up 43 00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 5: around twenty five percent of its total global output, so 44 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 5: to recap. The same year Exxon was exposed for blocking 45 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 5: climate policy for decades, they decided to start a whole 46 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:10,640 Speaker 5: new project doing offshore drilling in Guyana, a project so 47 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 5: large that it's what climate experts call a carbon bomb. 48 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 5: Knowing everything they know about climate change and the role 49 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,919 Speaker 5: of fossil fuels planet, knowing the inevitability of oil spills 50 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 5: and flaring and things going wrong. Not in the nineteen 51 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 5: seventies when they were just learning about these things, but 52 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 5: now when they know so much. That's when they decided 53 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 5: to expand into Guyana. 54 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 4: One of the first things we found it was who 55 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 4: was this company that found this oil? And they said, oh, 56 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 4: it was EEPGLSO Exploration and Production Gata Limited, and that 57 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 4: company is a subsidiary of Exxon Mobile Corporation. 58 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 5: Keanu Wilberg reports on the oil and gas industry for 59 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 5: one of the country's top papers, Kit News. 60 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 4: And so I said, okay, we need to let people know, yes, 61 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 4: we found oil, but who are we really dealing with. 62 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 4: Who is this company? What's his track record? We don't 63 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 4: know anything about it. Let's get into it. 64 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 5: I'm Amy Westervelt, and I'm a journalist who's been covering 65 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 5: the fossil fuel industry for twenty years, so it was 66 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,799 Speaker 5: a big surprise to me that Keana and her colleagues 67 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 5: had not heard of Exxon Mobile before this. In the US, 68 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 5: of course, they're a household name, but for journalists in particular, 69 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 5: they have a reputation. For me and every journalist I 70 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 5: know who's ever done an excellon story, weird shit just 71 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 5: happens when you're reporting on this company. When I was 72 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 5: interviewing those former excellent scientists I mentioned before, the ones 73 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 5: that had done all that climate research back in the 74 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 5: seventies and eighties, every time I traveled, half my reservations 75 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 5: would somehow wind up changed or canceled. It actually happened 76 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 5: when I was reporting on this story too. On my 77 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:10,359 Speaker 5: way to Guyana, I got a message just before my 78 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 5: flight that my hotel room in Georgetown had been canceled. 79 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 5: I called our senior producer and editor, Sarah Ventry about 80 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 5: it to let her know. 81 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 6: Good morning, Sarah. I woke up to a fun little 82 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 6: surprise that Marriott had. 83 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 5: Canceled my hotel reservation tonight. 84 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 6: I totally forgot that, like every time I go somewhere 85 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 6: to report on Exxon, this happens. We asked Keana if 86 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 6: intimidation from either the oil companies or the government. 87 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 5: Ever makes her think twice about her beat. 88 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 4: Absolutely. Absolutely. I remember uh watching this documentary about how 89 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 4: citizens of Papua New Guinea died when they were pushing 90 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 4: for an oil and gas project in a particular area. 91 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 4: People who were protesting against it started disappearing. But I 92 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 4: am I am very very much aware of the dangers 93 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,160 Speaker 4: of reporting on the oil and gas sector. 94 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 5: Those dangers have only increased in the few years since 95 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 5: Guyana became an oil country. For decades now, the fossil 96 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 5: fuel industry's story has been that oil equals development and prosperity, equality, stability, 97 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 5: a better quality of life. As the world's fossil fuel 98 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 5: companies race to tap the last of the planet's oil reserves, 99 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 5: we have a chance to examine that promise up close 100 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 5: in real time this season Life and Death in the 101 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 5: world's fastest growing economy. The purpose of an oil company 102 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 5: is to make money. They have no other purpose. 103 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 7: If you have abundant natural source and you could use 104 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 7: those natural resources in a very responsible manner to help 105 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 7: lift your people out of poverty. That's what I support. 106 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 5: It's really extraordinary the leverage the industry has over the country, 107 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 5: and it's inexplicable the amount. 108 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 8: A number of attacks we have received from members of 109 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 8: the government. It shows that the government is not ready 110 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 8: to accommodate persons who are willing to speak out. 111 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 9: One point two billion gallons of suite in our Christine Ocean, 112 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 9: so will be getting roughly again. 113 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 5: The ship for every battel of oil they take out. 114 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 5: That's the deal. In a nutshell. 115 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 2: I thought it was hard to report on the CIA, 116 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 2: and I came to understand that Exon was far more 117 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 2: difficult and a little bit scarier even. 118 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 5: Welcome to Light Sweet Crude, a special crossover season of 119 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 5: Drilled and Damages. Stay with us. 120 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 4: My lifelong dream since since growing up was to be 121 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 4: a teacher. 122 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 5: This is Keana Wilberg, who we heard from before. She 123 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 5: was one of my first connections in Guyana. Actually, I 124 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 5: originally hired her to help do some interviews and some 125 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:31,720 Speaker 5: on the ground recording when we couldn't travel to Guyana 126 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 5: because of COVID. But the more I got to know her, 127 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 5: I realized that she wasn't just helping us to tell 128 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 5: this story. She was a big part of it. 129 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:44,240 Speaker 4: And I didn't get to fulfill that dream because I 130 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 4: was told that I was too young and the boys 131 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 4: in the class would not take me seriously as a teacher. 132 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,440 Speaker 4: So I said, Okay, what's the next thing that I 133 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 4: wanted to do, and that would be writing. I loved 134 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 4: her and I love to pray as well, so I 135 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 4: remember praying and I said, you know, God, if you 136 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 4: channel me in the direction. 137 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 9: To get a job that allows me to do what 138 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 9: I love, so that allows me to write, I'm going 139 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 9: to give one thousand percent of myself every singly. 140 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 4: The next day, I. 141 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 5: Got this job. This job was working as a reporter 142 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 5: at one of the country's largest newspapers, Kit News. She 143 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 5: was young, nineteen maybe twenty, and she had no idea 144 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 5: what to expect. She stayed up all night before her 145 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 5: first day studying the paper and its writers. 146 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 10: So I had a little notebook and I wrote down 147 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 10: all of the topics that they paid attention to in 148 00:09:56,040 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 10: health and crime and education, because I wasn't sure where 149 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,000 Speaker 10: they would put me or what they would ask me. 150 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 5: She even picked out the perfect first day of work outfit, 151 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 5: just like you used to do the night before your 152 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 5: first day of school. 153 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:19,960 Speaker 10: I remember having this black jacket with gold buttons and 154 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 10: matching green inner top, the black pants with green shoes, 155 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 10: and when I got to wear I thought that I 156 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 10: looked so good. 157 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:36,360 Speaker 5: But it turned into one of her first lessons about 158 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 5: navigating Guyana's political landscape as a journalist. 159 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 10: I got to work the first day and I was 160 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 10: reprimanded for it because green and black are party colors. 161 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 10: It's the two colors of one of the major political 162 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 10: parties in the country. If you go out there as 163 00:10:55,240 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 10: a reporter, they automatically ask you, oh, are you are 164 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 10: representative of this party. 165 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 5: That's a big deal in Guyana, where politics are tense 166 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:07,679 Speaker 5: and racialized. 167 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:14,560 Speaker 4: You have predominantly Blocks and you have predominantly Indians, and 168 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:18,719 Speaker 4: they are parties that represent those interests. 169 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:25,359 Speaker 11: Leading up to elections, you will see both sides reminding 170 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 11: of things that happen five years ago, ten years ago. 171 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 4: Fifty years ago. You will hear them beating these racist 172 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 4: drums like every single time it's leading up to elections. 173 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 4: And so unfortunately, even at this media entity, when it 174 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 4: gets to that time, you see some people say good afternoon, 175 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 4: and some people don't. 176 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 5: According to Keana, oil drilling has exacerbated the problem. 177 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 4: It's more cut throat and there's no apology. There's no 178 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 4: apology for it. There's no care for window dressing anymore. 179 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 4: It's going to be violet, it's going to be disrespectful. 180 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:20,600 Speaker 4: It's oil is just making this the politics. It's getting toxic. 181 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 4: It's written an extremely toxic level. 182 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 5: That's pretty concerning in a country with a history of 183 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 5: political battles turning violent. The fact that politics are turning 184 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 5: ugly in the wake of oil doesn't exactly bode well 185 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 5: for stability in Guyana. Americans are of course, no strangers 186 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 5: to divisive, toxic, racialized, or even violent politics either. But 187 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 5: to give you just one example of just how bad 188 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 5: it's starting to get in Guyana, Keana told us about 189 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 5: a fight over one piece of oil related legislation that 190 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,439 Speaker 5: actually ended up in a wrestling match. Seriously, some politicians 191 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:06,320 Speaker 5: ended up rolling around on the floor of the National Assembly. 192 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:07,680 Speaker 12: Real the thing now on presidented vulgarity in the National 193 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 12: Assembly Bana. 194 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 4: The opposition resorted to whistling, stealing the mace and that instrument. 195 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 4: If it's removed from there, you cannot pass a law. 196 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 4: So the opposition tried to steal the mace so that 197 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:27,959 Speaker 4: they can pass it. 198 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:28,920 Speaker 7: And it was. 199 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 4: A tug of war between the members of the opposition 200 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 4: and the parliamentary officials and their images online with a 201 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 4: parliamentary official lyne on the ground hugging the mace so 202 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,080 Speaker 4: that it cannot be stolen from him. 203 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 5: That sort of thing has been happening more and more 204 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 5: in the past couple of years as Excellent started actually 205 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 5: producing barrels of oil. Suddenly the potential for oil profits 206 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:07,080 Speaker 5: has become real money in government accounts. Roads are being built, 207 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,560 Speaker 5: government programs are being announced. Guyana's capital, Georgetown, it's an 208 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 5: oil boomtown now that caters to foreigners in the oil business. 209 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 5: There are high rise hotels springing up all over the place. 210 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 5: It's impossible to get a reservation at the most popular 211 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 5: restaurant in town. Old colonial homes near the waterfront have 212 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 5: been torn down and replaced by modern apartment buildings or 213 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 5: condos where oil execs from Houston rotate in and out. 214 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 5: Competition for power and wealth has intensified, turning up the 215 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 5: heat on long simmering political, ethnic and class resentments. When 216 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 5: that first announcement was made in twenty fifteen. It was 217 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 5: just the earliest hint of what was to come. Exon 218 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 5: had figured out that there was oil off Guyana's coast, 219 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 5: but it needed to understand exactly how much how accessible 220 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 5: it was. Once that was determined, it had to commission 221 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 5: unusually large and complex offshore rigs to get at the oil. 222 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 5: These were not your standard offshore platforms. Exon needed to 223 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 5: be able not only to drill in extremely deep water, 224 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,360 Speaker 5: but also to store large quantities of oil at sea 225 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,560 Speaker 5: and ship barrels directly from the middle of the ocean. 226 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 5: It takes at least two years to build these things. 227 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 5: They're called floating production, storage and Offloading vessels, or as 228 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,560 Speaker 5: we heard a lot of people call them FPSOs. They 229 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 5: cost up to three billion dollars each and they can 230 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 5: take up to a year just to install and get going. 231 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 5: So it makes sense that while Exon announced that it 232 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 5: had discovered oil in Guyana in twenty fifteen, it didn't 233 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 5: actually produce its first barrel there until twenty nineteen. When 234 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 5: that happened, the country's president at the time, David Granger, 235 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:00,160 Speaker 5: was so thrilled he declared the day a national holiday. 236 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 2: Guy needs I should issue a proclamation declaring the twentieth 237 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 2: of December as National Petroleum Day. 238 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 5: In those four years from the discovery of oil to 239 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 5: the production of it, Keanu Wilberg set herself the task 240 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 5: of learning everything she possibly could about the industry and 241 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 5: about the company that Guyana was partnering with. 242 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 4: I distinctly remember I said, Okay, you know what, I 243 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 4: don't know anything about oil and gas. I'm editor in 244 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 4: chief at the TAME. Adam Harris said, you know, I 245 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,440 Speaker 4: have a book somewhere at home about Exxon. 246 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 5: The book was one of the all time masterpieces ever 247 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 5: written about Exon Private Empire. 248 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 2: I'm Steve Call and I am the author of Private Empire, 249 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 2: Exxon Mobile, and American Power. 250 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 5: Steve Call is also an investigative journalist for The New Yorker. 251 00:16:58,040 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 2: I thought it was hard to report on the CIA, 252 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 2: and I came to understand that Exon was far more 253 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 2: difficult and a little bit scarier. Even I joked with 254 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 2: my colleagues that, you know, if I disappeared, like if 255 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:16,479 Speaker 2: some van pulled up beside me on the street and 256 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 2: I was bundled away and they never saw me again, 257 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,880 Speaker 2: that it wouldn't be al Qaeda, which I had reported 258 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 2: on it wouldn't be the CIA, which I had reported, 259 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,439 Speaker 2: I'd probably be excellent. They have that way of creeping 260 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:34,199 Speaker 2: people out of intimidation actually, and it's it's a strategy, 261 00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:37,679 Speaker 2: and they're very practiced at it and effective at it. 262 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 2: They have a lot of power and resources with which 263 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 2: to intimidate people. 264 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 5: Keanu photocopied Calls book for her colleagues. Reading it, she 265 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 5: could tell she was signing up for a big challenge, 266 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,640 Speaker 5: but it wasn't all on her shoulders. Her paper, Kitter 267 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,639 Speaker 5: News knew that Guyana getting into the oil business was 268 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,240 Speaker 5: a big deal, so they created an oil and gas 269 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:00,880 Speaker 5: desk and put five journalists on it, some for oil, 270 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,439 Speaker 5: some for gas. They all read those photocopies of Private 271 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 5: Empire and then came up with questions they wanted answers for. 272 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 4: Everyone was armed with pencils and exercise books, notebooks, and 273 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:18,400 Speaker 4: we were writing on all the questions that we want 274 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 4: to ask, that we want to find out and do 275 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 4: research a book. 276 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:23,720 Speaker 5: As they did their research, they would publish it in 277 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 5: a series of weekly articles. 278 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,040 Speaker 4: And we started out with everything you need to know 279 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 4: about Excel Mobile, and some of our stories looked at 280 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:42,360 Speaker 4: the environmental issues concerns that countries civil society groups had 281 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 4: about exelmobiles operations. 282 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 5: One of those concerns was, unsurprisingly, climate change and the 283 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 5: extent to which a massive new oil project would be 284 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 5: exacerbating a problem that the country and the world is 285 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,879 Speaker 5: already facing. Dianese President your Fanali has painted sort of 286 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:04,399 Speaker 5: a robbing Peter to pay Paul picture, claiming that oil 287 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,920 Speaker 5: money will help Guyana pay for the cost of adapting 288 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 5: to climate change, never mind that it will also exacerbate 289 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 5: the problem. And Guyana's capital, Georgetown, is below sea level already. 290 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 5: In fact, it was already below sea level when it 291 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 5: was built. Back in the late seventeen hundreds. The Dutch 292 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 5: colonized the area and engineered a canal system for Georgetown, 293 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 5: similar to those they built in the Netherlands. 294 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 12: Now there are hundreds and hundreds of these in Guyana, 295 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 12: all along the coast. So you have the sea wall, 296 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,639 Speaker 12: but they're breaks in the sea wall all along that 297 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 12: has these openings. That has a sluice, so it's like 298 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 12: a gate that opens and closes, so at low tide 299 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,840 Speaker 12: it's open to let water out. At high tide it's 300 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 12: closed to keep the seawater out. 301 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 5: Salvador to Carries was born and raised in Guyana. Today 302 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 5: he worked as a tour guide there. 303 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 12: And right now even there are parts of the east coast, 304 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 12: and even here during spring tides you should see the 305 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 12: waves coming over the top of the wall. So any 306 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,240 Speaker 12: kind of rise in sea level, we're in trouble. How 307 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 12: much do you keep building this wall up? At some 308 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,800 Speaker 12: point we're going to have to think about moving, and 309 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 12: the government is already talking about it, actually moving the 310 00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,239 Speaker 12: capital back into where the big airport is. 311 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 6: I was walking around with this yesterday. Someone was like, man, 312 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 6: why are you walking around with that brooksh. 313 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,679 Speaker 5: When we got to Guyana, we didn't just head straight 314 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 5: for the oil and gas experts and for a drive 315 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 5: by of the Exxon headquarters. We wanted to understand the 316 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 5: context all these changes were happening in, so we went 317 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 5: to the market, we talked to fishermen at the seawall, 318 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 5: and we hit the National Museum with Salvador. It turns 319 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,680 Speaker 5: out the Dutch and the British weren't the only colonial 320 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,159 Speaker 5: powers interested in Guyana back in the seventeen hundreds. The French, 321 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 5: Spanish and Portuguese all took parts of the country too. 322 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 12: You got the true Guanas and what they used to 323 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 12: call British Guiana. 324 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:26,679 Speaker 4: Dutch Guiana and French Guiana. 325 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 8: Dutch Guiana is surnam is. 326 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: Here and Spanish Cana was here and they are Naco. 327 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:39,680 Speaker 12: Spanish Guana became part of Venezuela. Portuguese Ganda became part 328 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 12: of Brazil. So you've got French, no French, Dutch and English. 329 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:46,880 Speaker 12: But the border got changed. 330 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 5: At this point, Salvador stood in front of a big 331 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,480 Speaker 5: map of the country to show how these former colonies 332 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:56,439 Speaker 5: had been divided into new countries. 333 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:04,680 Speaker 1: Brazil and we gave all of this to Venezuela. Sonaudi 334 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: claimed that this should be border. So two turds again, 335 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:11,440 Speaker 1: they say it belongs to them. 336 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 13: Na, no way, sorry, here. 337 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:21,960 Speaker 1: Not happening. 338 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,159 Speaker 5: In case you missed that, he's saying that Venezuela is 339 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,679 Speaker 5: laying claim to a portion of Guyana. In fact, they 340 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 5: lay claim to a fairly large percentage of Guyana's land 341 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:38,040 Speaker 5: and also to all of its offshore area, which means 342 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,679 Speaker 5: the oil. That border dispute has been going on for 343 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 5: more than a century, but the twenty fifteen discovery of 344 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:49,639 Speaker 5: oil in Guyana reignited it. By that point, Venezuela had 345 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 5: actually kicked out several foreign oil companies, including Exonmobile. 346 00:22:54,840 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 13: The reason why we are famous, no is that Venezuela 347 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 13: La has denied, denied the US companies there rightful share. 348 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:10,119 Speaker 4: Whatever that. 349 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 5: Maybe this is Alfred Boulai, an engineer and energy expert 350 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 5: in Guyana, who says there have been various research projects 351 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,920 Speaker 5: around oil in the country for decades. Today he works 352 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 5: for Transparency Institute Guyana, which pushes for increased government transparency. 353 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,359 Speaker 13: So I knew it was oil being healed, and certain 354 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:37,639 Speaker 13: knowledgeable people knew yet, particularly mister Borlam in the nineteen seventies, 355 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:38,880 Speaker 13: the Coamo. 356 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 5: President, that's former President Forbes Burnham. The country officially gained 357 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 5: independence from Britain in nineteen sixty six, but it didn't 358 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 5: have its first entirely democratic election until the early nineties. 359 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 5: In the lead up to independence, the most popular party 360 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 5: was the People's Progressive Party the PPP, and at that 361 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,439 Speaker 5: point in the sixties it was a cross racial party 362 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 5: led by two men, one of Indian descent, Chetty Jagon, 363 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:07,880 Speaker 5: the other of African descent Forbes Burnham. Like a lot 364 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,439 Speaker 5: of other South American political leaders at the time, they 365 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,520 Speaker 5: were both leftists, and they had strong opinions about who 366 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:18,919 Speaker 5: should own and benefit from Guyana's natural resources, not Western 367 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 5: oil companies. For one, they wanted Guyana's resources to benefit 368 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 5: its people. Also, like a lot of South American countries, 369 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 5: Guyana was on the CIA's radar at the time, and 370 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,400 Speaker 5: they had strong opinions about which of these two men 371 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,400 Speaker 5: they'd prefer to see in charge of so many resources. 372 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,480 Speaker 5: Burnham the one who didn't spend quite so much time 373 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 5: with Fidel Castro as they have done in so many countries. 374 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,440 Speaker 5: The CIA leaned on racial differences to split the parties 375 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 5: into two and then backed Burnham. Despite its relative stability 376 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,399 Speaker 5: compared to some of its neighbors, Guyana wasn't a big 377 00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:59,160 Speaker 5: target for its oil because it sat beneath the ocean 378 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 5: floor some forty miles off the coast. So from the 379 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 5: nineteen seventies to the early two thousands, the big US 380 00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 5: oil companies were really concentrating on Venezuela. 381 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,359 Speaker 13: So I am absolutely sure that they knew they was 382 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 13: always there and just waited Venezuela is going to play bad. 383 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,760 Speaker 13: Then they said, well, okay, we have oil elsewhere, and 384 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:28,120 Speaker 13: then negotiated a very sweet deal. So the people who 385 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:35,159 Speaker 13: knew about oil knew these things, but the general public didn't. 386 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 5: Boo I thinks it's possible that Venezuela and Guyana's oil 387 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,840 Speaker 5: are fed by the same reserve, which could be further 388 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:47,080 Speaker 5: fueling Venezuela's attempts to stop the drilling in Guyana. All 389 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,760 Speaker 5: of this got Keana Wilberg and her team at KIT 390 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 5: News thinking about one key question that they had not 391 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 5: been able to find an answer to about Exxon's sudden 392 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:58,960 Speaker 5: presence in Guyana. 393 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,360 Speaker 4: The contract that we have with this company. 394 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 5: Steve Call's book Private Empire is filled with details about 395 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 5: what kinds of deals countries like Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and 396 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 5: Guyana's neighbor Venezuela had struck with Exon In twenty sixteen, 397 00:26:16,880 --> 00:26:20,360 Speaker 5: a year after Exon discovered oil offshore. Keana and her 398 00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:23,720 Speaker 5: newsroom wanted to know where Guyana stood compared to those 399 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,639 Speaker 5: other countries. Equatorial Guinea had only gotten about eight percent 400 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 5: royalties in its contract, Chad got ten percent. But Guyana 401 00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 5: was more stable and developed than those countries had been 402 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:39,439 Speaker 5: when they inked contracts with Exxon. Surely they would get more. 403 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 4: And it took us a year of writing over and 404 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 4: over and over and over. They released a contract, release 405 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 4: a contract release, release. 406 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 5: It next time on light sweet crude. 407 00:26:56,200 --> 00:27:03,800 Speaker 10: This is something that was hidden from media since nineteen 408 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 10: ninety nine. 409 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:06,920 Speaker 4: No one saw this document. 410 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 6: The majority of people, including the IMF, have gone on 411 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 6: record as saying it was a very unfair deal for 412 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 6: the ENA. 413 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 13: I began talking to someone there and he said he 414 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:21,359 Speaker 13: would like to do a case, but nobody would do 415 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 13: the case for him to challenge the oil, and I said, 416 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:25,960 Speaker 13: I'll do it.