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Auditing Oil

Sep 04, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News-  The conduct of the PPP/C Government with this nation’s oil wealth borders on the edges of madness.  It is more than slackness, more than foolishness, and may even be beyond a state of sheer, unchecked madness.  There are unfinished audits hanging in the air, but Guyana is rushing merrily along.  There is so much that is new and not known, so much learning that is involved and has to be under the belt, but the PPP/C Government keeps barreling along, without so much as a pause, or a care in the world.

Vital audits involving billions of American dollars are unfinished, and before an eye could be blinked, the man in charge of the nation’s oil, Dr. Bharat Jagdeo, is done and finished with approval one rich oil project, then another.  The PPP/C Government has been loud and unambiguous about how this country is seriously lacking in necessary capacity in many areas. Notwithstanding the tears and laments of President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo about lack of capacity, everywhere a turn is made, there is Jagdeo huffing in haste and puffing from running to deliver new project approvals to ExxonMobil.  There is the strong sense of the head honchos at ExxonMobil yanking strings that are more visible to observant Guyanese, and President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo racing each other to see who could do the American company’s bidding the quickest.

What the PPP/C Government has been wringing its hands about publicly at frequent intervals, the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr. Godfrey Statia, had no choice but to air publicly.  There is a scarcity of seasoned auditors at the GRA to scrutinize closely and properly the billions in expenses submitted by ExxonMobil.  The smaller audit of expenses that began to accumulate 24 years ago, has still not reached the stage of over and done.  Worse still, a bigger audit for US$7.3 billion of ExxonMobil’s expenses is yet to be fully completed and shared with the public.  Given the PPP/C Government’s track record with chronic secrecies, Guyanese should not hold their breath in expecting to see that audit report.

Separately, ExxonMobil has some issues of its own, and has threatened court action on some of its charges on which there is back and forth.  In short, the company does not want to pay some or all of the US$214 million in expenses that have been questioned and flagged.  This is the context in which Guyana struggles to manage its national bounty.  This country does not know what is going on at the front end of ExxonMobil’s offshore exploration and production operations, and it is falling behind at the backend when the billions come up for reviewing and approving for payment.  The GRA audit staff, those remaining after the raids of foreign companies, cannot clear its decks, and cannot keep its head above water.

The bottom line is grim and brimful of openings for ExxonMobil and its partners to rip Guyana’s eyes out, while the smiles and handshakes are exchanged between this country’s political leaders, and the company’s movers and shakers.  Guyana cannot monitor what ExxonMobil is doing offshore, but the Vice President is hurtling full speed ahead with approving new projects.  Guyana cannot audit in a timely manner the billions in expenses from ExxonMobil, but that has not served as a brake on the mad rush to approve more projects.  In fact, it could be said that the GRA loses ground in the struggle to keep up with reviewing the bills, but Vice President Jagdeo pays scant attention to that reality, and simply signs off and signs off on new projects, as if that is what he lives for, all he cares about, and knows.  He is a one-man delivery system into the ExxonMobil portfolio of local projects.

This is a one-two combination of blows to the body of Guyana: it is handicapped in monitoring where the production action is, and it has its back to the wall when it comes to checking the volume of bills and doing justice by the Guyanese people.  With each new project coming onstream, the bills bulk up some more, and condemn this country to a weaker state, a losing one.

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