Latest update January 4th, 2025 5:30 AM
Latest News
- ‘Show us the feasibility and EIA studies done by US EXIM Bank for Gas-to-Energy project’- Dr. Adams
- AFC questions Govt’s fear of renegotiating oil contract
- Israeli attacks kill dozens in Gaza as ceasefire talks resume in Qatar
- T&T PM Rowley to bow out of elected politics before general elections
- Govt. hunting for more housing lands, after using up those available in several regions – Min. Croal
Exxon Boss says company only told about GRA’s role in US$214M after controversy erupted
– said he felt sorry for Bobby Gossai
Kaieteur News – Country Manager for ExxonMobil Guyana Limited, Alistair Routledge clarified on Tuesday that his company was never initially informed by government that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is the sole body signing off on all audit findings related to its expenses. Routledge said this only became clear following the controversy that erupted in the audit of ExxonMobil’s US$1.7B expenses.
ExxonMobil Guyana Limited Country Manager, Alistair Routledge
The audit in question was first done by British firm, IHS Markit in 2019. In a 2021 report, the British firm had flagged over US$214M in questionable spending incurred from 1999 to 2017. Since the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) grants the Natural Resources Minister (Vickram Bharrat) the right to have Exxon’s spending audited, his ministry automatically assumed an oversight role. In so doing, Kaieteur News later learnt and published that the ministry’s Senior Petroleum Coordinator, Bobby Gossai, engaged Exxon in the reduction of the US$214M sum to US$3M. The ministry later said this was an unauthorized move and announced that Gossai would face disciplinary action since his actions represented a deviation from the GRA’s advice to close the audit at US$214M.
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo who also serves as the chief policy maker on the sector subsequently made it pellucid clear that GRA is entrusted with the responsibility to review the findings of any audit into Exxon’s expenses. Dr. Jagdeo had also said that the advice of GRA is what the government would accept as final on such matters.
Routledge told reporters on Tuesday that his company was of the opinion that it was engaging the right set of technical people at the Ministry of Natural Resources all along, hence it furnished the ministry with additional documentation it found to substantiate most of the US$214M queried expenses. Routledge said his company was not at any point, formally informed that the audit was closed and that GRA was the only technical body it should be in contact with.
“What we understood was that it was GRA that was engaging with the ministry but we didn’t know what was happening behind the doors of the government between GRA and the Ministry of Natural Resources. We were not told that we were supposed to be engaging with GRA. And as far as I am aware, our people were only in contact with the technical people,” Routledge said.
Senior Petroleum Coordinator, Bobby Gossai
With respect to the public ridicule Gossai has faced since the audit scandal, Routledge said, “I feel very sorry for Mr. Gossai. I feel he has been somewhat caught in the middle. He has been working very diligently and in support of the process and unfortunately, the paperwork didn’t go to the right people and he has been left carrying that …But I think he has worked diligently with the best of intent.”
Routledge was also keen to note that he has never experienced this kind of controversy with an audit of his company’s expenses before, adding “this is a first for me with how long it is taking…Hopefully, we can now move onto auditing timely.”
- Alistair Routledge, controversy, Country Manager, ExxonMobil Guyana Limited Country Manager, Vickram Bharrat
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Democracy thrives on dissent and plurality
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, speaking at an event commemorating the death anniversary... more
Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Weekend Cartoon
