Final report on audit of Exxon’s US$7.3B bills handed over to Govt.

Apr 14, 2023 News

Kaieteur News – The Guyana Government has received the final report from the team of auditors that reviewed ExxonMobil’s US$7.3 billion expenses between 2018 and 2020.

At a press conference on Thursday, Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo said that the report has been received and the technical teams are presently reviewing the document.

According to him, “The report has been concluded and it’s now with the technical people and I’m not going to…they have to review it, the GRA (Guyana Revenue Authority), the technical group and they have to then make a (pronouncement). I am not interfering.”

Jagdeo said there is a notion that the government wants to hide the reports to protect the oil companies but this is against the intention of the administration. He clarified, “We have a big team going through these audits because we want to see any area, we have auditors but we want to see any areas where we believe we should strengthen and they are helping us now a lot in resolving the issues now with the new PSA (Production Sharing Agreement) and also with the new (Petroleum) law.”

The VP explained that the audit team has helped to identify the weaknesses in the Exxon contract and has assisted government in understanding the sector to a greater extent.

The Stabroek Block PSA allows for audits to be conducted within two years, from the end of each calendar year. At the conclusion of the process, the Contractor must be furnished with the report and its findings within 60 days to provide a response. The response from Exxon will detail its objection or acceptance of the audit claim, along with explanations thereof. The contract also allows the subject Minister to conduct further investigations within 60 days of receiving the Contractor’s response.

It must be noted that the PSA makes it clear at Section 1.5 (b) that: “…If within sixty (60) days of the Minister’s further investigation, the Parties are unable to agree to the disposition of the Minister’s audit claim, the claim shall be submitted to the sole expert in accordance with Article 26 of the Agreement.”

Article 26 of the contract sets out the conditions as it relates to arbitration. The contract in the meantime allows for the Contractor to recover these costs until the dispute is settled.

The US$7.3 billion audit was awarded by the current administration back in May 2022. It was conducted by VHE Consulting which is a registered partnership between Ramdihal & Haynes Inc, Eclisar Financial, and Vitality Accounting & Consultancy Inc.

The Local Consortium is supported by International firms – SGS and Martindale Consultants for the ‘Cost Recovery Audit and Validation of the Government of Guyana’s Profit Oil Share’. To this end, the audit zoomed into ExxonMobil’s expenses between the years 2018 to 2020, which have already been billed to the country.

When the contract was signed, it was explained that the process would be completed in four months however, Minister Bharrat recently sought to explain that the timeline allotted was 120 “working days”.

When President Irfaan Ali was asked to give an update on the audit during his last press conference in Region Three, he told this newspaper that the issue would be addressed at “the appropriate time”.

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Audit, expense, ExxonMobil, govt, review

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