HOW DOES 35 PLUS 20 BECOME 55? On Equity, Oil, and the Arithmetic of Power

 HOW DOES 35 PLUS 20 BECOME 55?

On Equity, Oil, and the Arithmetic of Power

Thirty-five plus twenty equals fifty-five.
In arithmetic, the answer is simple.

In power, it may not be.
Thirty-five percent may describe an economic interest
in a company. Twenty percent may describe a right
to purchase petroleum at a specified cost.

One concerns equity.
The other concerns oil.

One may confer economic or corporate rights.
The other may confer access to physical production.
They can be placed beside each other on a page.

But can they simply be added together
and called fifty-five percent control?
That is where arithmetic must yield to examination.

For numbers can clarify power.
Numbers can also conceal it.

A percentage without its legal definition is only a shadow
of the agreement behind it. So before saying 55 percent,
show us what the thirty-five means.
Show us what the twenty means.

Show us whether the thirty-five consists of shares already owned, warrants that may later become shares, economic benefits without equivalent voting power, or some combination of these rights.

Show us what “at cost” means.

Production cost?
Operating cost?
Transportation included?
Upgrading included?
Capital recovery included?

Who calculates the cost?
Who audits it?
Who disputes it?
And who has the final word?
Because the difference between a percentage and a right can become the difference between participation and control.

The difference between equity and petroleum can become the difference between owning part of a company and commanding part of a nation's resource flow.

And behind every calculation stands something that cannot be reduced to arithmetic: sovereignty.

Sixty-five billion barrels cannot be understood
through addition alone.
Seventeen fields cannot be governed by a percentage alone.
A century cannot be justified by multiplication alone.
And a people's inheritance cannot be reduced to an equation written by those presently sitting at the table.

Perhaps the most important arithmetic
therefore begins elsewhere.

Count the barrels.
But also count the years.

Count the investment.
But also count the obligations.

Count the percentage.
But also count the powers attached to it.

Count the revenue.
But also count how much reaches the people.

Count what leaves the ground.
But also count what remains when the wells grow quiet.
For there is another mathematics—the mathematics of inheritance.

Thirty-five plus twenty may equal fifty-five on paper.
But equity plus purchasing rights does not automatically
equal ownership.

Economic influence does not automatically equal sovereignty.
Access does not automatically equal possession.
And power does not automatically equal authority.

Therefore the question “How does 35 plus 20 become 55?”
is not really a question about mathematics.
It is a demand for the missing nouns behind the numbers.

Thirty-five percent of what?
Twenty percent of what?
Fifty-five percent of what?

Ownership?
Production?
Purchasing rights?
Revenue?
Voting power?
Corporate influence?
Strategic access?
Control?

Until those nouns are supplied by the governing documents,
the equation remains unfinished.
And perhaps that is the deeper lesson.

Whenever enormous power is expressed through a small percentage sign, do not look only at the number.

Look behind it.
Look for the contract.
Look for the authority.
Look for the definition.
Look for the limits.
Look for the people whose inheritance stands
beneath the calculation.

Because sometimes the most consequential question in an agreement containing sixty-five billion barrels can be written
with only five numbers and three words:
35 + 20 = 55?

The arithmetic may take a second.
Understanding the power may take a generation.

Pastor Steven G. Lee
St. GMC Corps
September 25, 2026

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