GRA officials “sailing” on Exxon contract

Aug 09, 2017 ExxonMobil, News

– employees face embarrassment at recent meeting with oil giant

Even senior operatives of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) are at a loss when it comes to the contractual arrangement between the Government of Guyana and oil giant ExxonMobil.
This leaves the tax authority facing a precarious situation. It is preparing to collect revenues from the looming oil industry, but has no idea of how the revenue will flow.
This newspaper understands that some key officials of GRA were recently embarrassed in a meeting the Authority had with ExxonMobil. The officials were essentially sailing. One officer said, “I couldn’t understand the purpose of the meeting, because most of us are not aware of what is going on.”
From all indications, it is only the Commissioner-General, Godfrey Statia who has access to the contract, “so he probably knows what is going on, but the rest of us don’t.”
One employee explained, “We know that there are a few moles at GRA, so probably that is why they are being so careful with the document.”
Another official confirmed this to be the case. The official said that information is leaked even to political parties “but at the end of the day, threy are some people at the entity who need to familiarize themselves with the document.”
Employees are contending that Exxon is somehow being given the upper hand when the relevant professionals are not given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the document.
That employee continued, “If this trend continues, the boss will be forced to micromanage. He will have to give orders daily when the unit is step up.”
In ExxonMobil’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), the company lists GRA as a regulatory body.
Exxon said, “The Project is subject to various regulatory requirements as further described in Chapter 3 of the EIA, as well as the conditions established by the Guyana EPA upon issuance of the environmental authorization for the Project, and the conditions of the Petroleum Production Licence and approval of the Project Development Plan by the GGMC. Other Guyana government agencies including, but not limited to, the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Civil Defense Commission (CDC), and Maritime Administration (MARAD) have regulatory authority over aspects of the Project.”
Exxon also listed revenue-sharing as a main feature of the Liza Phase one Project.
In fact, revenue sharing was listed as one of the main benefits that will be generated to the people of Guyana.
Exxon said Guyanese will benefit, “through revenue sharing with the Government of Guyana, although the details of this revenue sharing is confidential. The type and extent of benefits associated with revenue sharing will depend on how decision makers in government decide to prioritize and allocate funding for future programs.”
It was also noted that a “confidential Petroleum Agreement between Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), Hess, Nexen, and the Government of Guyana defines how revenues from the Project are to be shared between the parties. The Government of Guyana would begin receiving oil revenues when oil is produced.”
While GRA officials acknowledge that the “confidentiality” aspect of this can be understood, they are contending that “this is supposed to be Guyana’s most confidential agency, we deal with taxes. I think that they can even let employees sign specific confidentiality agreements. But the point is these officers need training, how are the men on the front line going to work if they do not know what they have to do? Dealing with revenue from Exxon is not like dealing the ordinary company, that is why a department has to be set up in the first place. Would the employees manning this department be left in the dark forever?”

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