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Glenn Lall questions absence of Exxon’s major expenses from US $7.3B audit report
Kaieteur News – Businessman and advocate for a better oil deal, Glenn Lall has questioned the absence of ExxonMobil’s major expenses from the US $7.3B audit, which was carried out by local consortium VHE Consulting.
Published of Kaieteur News, Dr. Glenn Lall.
His radio programme aired last Friday, Lall highlighted that Chief Auditor Floyd Haynes who conducted the second audit had said during a programme on his radio station last year that he was not given permission by his client and declined to speak on certain items audited.
Haynes had said that, “I haven’t been told by my client to discuss this type of stuff so I want to respect the client. Once they ask me to speak on it, I’d be happy to provide (the information). Haynes noted that, “We have detailed schedules of all of those things. What I can tell you is that those were some areas that we looked at keenly – drilling, mud, all those types (expenses), helicopters and we benchmarked them against industry standards.” “You hear what the chief auditor, name Floyd Haynes said with his own voice, he checked the big US million-dollar stuff and reported it, but didn’t get permission to speak on those, so uncle you tell me, what stopped him from telling us what exactly he uncovered, discovered and find,” Lall told to his audience.
The businessman further explained that while Haynes freely spoke about the ‘small’ things in the audit that they looked at, he declined to speak on the larger ones. Coincidentally that part of the audit is missing from the report published online. Some of the ‘big ticket’ items include the cost to lease the FPSO’s, the daily helicopter flights, the supply boats and chemicals used. Lall questioned, “Now you tell me, why is Bharat Jagdeo hiding that part of the report? If the small money items are in the US hundreds of millions, then the big money items will surely run into US billions, that is not in the report online and the chief auditor himself say I can’t talk.”
Lall further enquired if it was a situation where the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Energy Department excluded that part of the report or it was left out by the auditors. However, he doubted the latter occurred since, “there is no way the man will go on national radio and say he checked everything and don’t submit a complete report to the client – Jagdeo.
Lall then explained that he believed discrepancies were unearthed during the second audit “because if everything was okay with those big money invoices, then I am certain that the Chief Auditor, Mr. Haynes, would have been happy to announce to the nation that no skullduggery went on and that Guyana get fair value for the money EM say they spend.”
The audit report has been perused by this publication on multiple occasions and it was recently reported that the multi-million-dollar expenses racked up by American oil major, ExxonMobil between the period 2018 and 2020 are not included in the second audit report, completed by the local consortium, VHE Consulting.
However, this data missing in the second audit and it is clearly stated in a detailed way in the first audit report which was done by the international firm HIS Markit. It must be noted that the first audit report provides readers with a clear understanding of the company’s operations during the review period. For instance, the auditors explained that during the audit period, there were 10 exploration/appraisal wells spudded and drilled in the Stabroek Area. Drilling related costs recorded against these 10 wells account for US$903 million. A table is also included with details of the rigs used for the drilling operations at the exact wells- (see page 34 of report). No such information is included in the second report.
Observers say this lack on information raises serious doubts about the government’s commitment to transparency in the management of the oil sector and further underscores the need for an independent petroleum commission to be appointed. Moreover, it leaves the Guyanese public in the dark regarding the use of the country’s oil resources at a time when the nation continues to protest for a fairer share of its profits.
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