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Jagdeo gives Exxon a pass for refusing to hand over raw production data to auditors
Kaieteur News – Vice President and head policymaker of the oil and gas sector, Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday sought to excuse ExxonMobil’s refusal to handover raw production data to auditors scrutinising that oil company’s US$7.3B expenses for the period 2018-2020, saying that if the auditors wanted the information they could have gotten it from the Natural Resources Ministry.
Specifically, the auditors wanted the raw data from ExxonMobil to verify whether what they provided to the Guyana Government matched what they have on their system.
Specifically, the team said in a report seen by this newspaper that Exxon was asked to provide a schematic diagram showing all metering points on the Liza Destiny Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. The auditors said a schematic would provide a visual representation of the physical flow of production as it is produced onto the FPSO through the various types of production equipment, and into the storage tanks.
Auditors said ExxonMobil was adamant that it would not provide the raw data or the schematic on the amount of oil and gas it produced. Auditors said Exxon “consistently stated that production information was outside the scope of the cost recovery audit.” Furthermore, Exxon told the auditors that only sales information would be provided.
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo
While they were denied this raw information requested, auditors said they have no reason to conclude that the production data presented in monthly statements to government would differ from the raw measurement data utilized by Exxon for production management. In addition, Exxon told auditors that the Guyana Government has key personnel who are fully aware of all measurement points and are present for calibrations and offloads, hence there is no need to worry.
Be that as it may, auditors advised that Exxon should make the schematic diagrams available for future audits as it would help to validate the volumetric data provided in the monthly statements submitted to the Guyana Government.
ExxonMobil Guyana Head, Alistair Routledge
The audit report seen by this newspaper was prepared by Ramdihal & Haynes Inc., Eclisar Financial, and Vitality Accounting & Consultancy Inc. with backing from Martindale Consultants.
Jagdeo’s position
Meanwhile, asked whether he was concerned about ExxonMobil’s refusal to handover the data, Jagdeo said: “so I was trying to find out whether I saw this in the public domain without getting into the details of the audit. As I said before, I wanted this to be purely technical. The raw data is with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the auditors can get that raw data from the ministry. So, I was hoping that if they didn’t get it from Exxon, if that is true, I don’t know if it’s true.”
Chartered Accountant and team leader, Floyd Haynes
Jagdeo went on to say: “…the raw production data has to because of the PSA, (Production Sharing Agreement) be supplied to the Ministry, and, the Ministry is in receipt of it. So if the auditors could not get it from Exxon they can get the raw production data from the Ministry, and then verify whether the sales data matches the production data.” He then reiterated that “This data is with the ministry but the auditors at some stage, I hope that they will address this themselves.” Auditors have advised that the schematic diagrams be made available in future audits, so that they are able to independently validate the volumetric data Exxon gives the Guyanese Government on a monthly basis.
It should be noted that this document prepared by the auditing team led by Chartered Accountant, Floyd Haynes is yet to be released to the public.
Kaieteur News had previously reported that the audit contract that was awarded to Haynes and his team back in 2022 for US$751,000 had a strict four-month deadline for completion. Notably, the US$7.3B costs which the auditors examined pertain to the investments for the Liza Phase One and Liza Phase Two Projects which are currently producing approximately 400,000 barrels of oil per day.
- Alistair Routledge, Bharrat Jagdeo, Chartered Accountant and team leader, ExxonMobil Guyana Head, Floyd Haynes, Vice President
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