ExxonMobil audits

Nov 04, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – From the small handful of audits of the expenses of Guyana’s oil partner, ExxonMobil, a stream of revelations has surfaced, and it all has to do with money.

Tens of millions of US dollars first, then the company deepening the grasp of its claws to the tune of a hundred million, and then a couple hundred million more exposed from another audit. From the audits of precontract costs to one of US$7.3 billion, Guyanese get a peek at the games ExxonMobil play with their oil money, and how they always come out the loser in the spending shams.

An early review of a precontract audit report for nearly half a billion US dollars noted US$92 million in the suspect, what fell short of standard accounting practices. Recent examinations of two separate audit reports that identified US$214 million and US$100 million respectively in findings noted the troubling, surprising, ugly, and infuriating. A few pieces came out those two audit reports that merit critical comments, and distaste for the thoughtless, cavalier manner in which ExxonMobil partners with Guyana. Truth be told, this country’s offshore treasure house of oil is being used by ExxonMobil and its friends in the three-member consortium as an all-purpose cashbox for any and every attraction that catches the fancy of the foreigners.

There are millions of US dollars from Guyana’s share unearthed by the audit that ExxonMobil used for fun and relaxation. There are more millions from Guyana’s piece of the partnership that ExxonMobil’s people grabbed to keep themselves in tiptop shape, so that their minds are clear on how to rip-off Guyana some more. There are still more millions seized from Guyana’s share of its oil revenues, and spent by ExxonMobil to wine and dine its bigshots and their companions. Guyanese were brought to their knees by the COVID-19 pandemic, but there were the executives and managers and insiders of ExxonMobil, and their army of coconspirators, dancing to the stars, and rutting in the overflowing Guyana oil trough.

No genuine partner would ever think of such extravagances in times of challenge, much less engage in activities such as these. No corporate entity that claims it is authentic and considerate would ever stoop as low as ExxonMobil did with how it helped itself to the riches of Guyana, when the population was locked down and left to contemplate what the future held in store. If this was all, then there might be some excuse made for the company’s expensive actions. There may have been listening to some mitigating factors put on the table that may have ease the wrath and disgust at what was clearly and purely exploitative, a series of stabs in the back on the Guyanese people.

But, in these audits and their related reports, Guyanese must remember that there was only so much that could be looked at (scope/audit charge or Terms of Reference). In view of limitations in available capacity and time, there was only so deep that probes could have gone. What was neither touched nor reviewed due to the nature and structure of sampling methods, could very well be multiples of the US$214 million and US$100 million that have been reported. Guyanese have already seen and recoiled from the kind of partner they have in ExxonMobil from the narrow scope audits conducted. It is left to the intelligence of the mind, and to basic commonsense, to interpret what else has gone undetected. It stands to reason that possibly many more hundreds of millions of US dollars have been snatched by ExxonMobil from Guyana’s oil revenues under the umbrella of legitimate oil operations.

But it is more than what ExxonMobil has spent and on what. For, as has come to light in the IHS Markit-GRA audit, it is how the company goes about challenging audit findings. Guyanese officials have been twisted and turned into the unrecognizable, with one singled out and given a slap on the wrist. To compress, the spending and auditing of ExxonMobil has revealed racket upon racket, and when locals believed that that was all, there were the backdoor, under the table, maneuvers to cheat this country still more. This is the type of partner that Guyana has in ExxonMobil.

audits, Editorial, ExxonMobil, Guyana, million

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ExxonMobil audits

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ExxonMobil audits

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