Latest update December 20th, 2024 1:38 AM
Jagdeo denies any relationship with Fulcrum owner
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
– says only met the former ExxonMobil VP once
Kaieteur News – Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said he does not have any relationship with the owner of a one-year-old company that his government handed the contract to monetise Guyana’s gas, saying that he only met the man once although he was Vice President of ExxobnMobil Guyana for several years.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fulcrum LNG Jesus Bronchalo worked for 19 years at ExxonMobil and spent quite a few years in Guyana. Concerns have been raised about a possible conflict of interest situation regarding the issue and the opposition has even hinted that top government officials might have links to the deal.
Kaieteur News on Thursday asked Jagdeo: “How would you describe your relationship with the CEO of Fulcrum and did you at anytime during your interactions discuss gas monetization?” Jagdeo responded: “I met the gentleman once when they were making a report on the Gas to Energy Project, it was a contentious engagement with him because we were discussing the pricing policy for the gas that’s the only time I saw him he came as part of the taskforce…Never saw him again and then I met him subsequent to the award of the contract never in between. So that is clear and I shouldn’t really be feeding into it.”
On Wednesday this newspaper reported Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), Shurwayne Holder calling for a probe into what he described as the questionable gas monetisation deal. The Shadow Minister of Natural Resources told this newspaper on Tuesday that the award of the contract to Fulcrum LNG has set off alarm bells. He explained, “While I understand fully the experience of the company’s (Chief Executive Officer) CEO in the oil and gas sector, we must consider that the company which he leads has been established just a year ago and has no track record of undertaking such projects. I assume it’s a company operation and not a one man show.”
Moreover, Holder insisted that the conflict of interest involving the company’s CEO and Exxon cannot be ignored.
The Opposition Member of Parliament said, “I don’t care what (Vice President Bharrat) Jagdeo says about Exxon not being in favour of gas monetisation. You can’t believe anything he says, he often speaks with a forked tongue, so we cannot just take Jagdeo’s defense of this company.” The Shadow Minister of Natural Resources further highlighted that the PPP’s track record is stacked with companies that lacked competence to undertake the work and failed to satisfy the terms of their contract, yet these were defended by the administration.
Holder was also keen to point out, “The public is also privy to allegations of corruption in the oil and gas industry as per the Vice News video release of discussions between VP Jagdeo and Su Zhi Rong.”
Jagdeo’s throw support
Jagdeo however, has thrown his support behind the one-year-old company, although questions abound about its lack of experience with no known projects completed to monetise gas resources. He had told reporters at a previous press conference that the Government of Guyana (GoG) was aware of the company’s link to U.S oil giant, ExxonMobil and had no qualms about it, since the founder of Fulcrum LNG had already cut ties with Exxon. Research by this publication found that Fulcrum LNG was founded by Bronchalo who worked 19 years and one month for ExxonMobil. The last position he held for the company was Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for the Guyana operations. His tenure ended in February 2023.
According to reports, Bronchalo five months later- in July 2023- launched the energy company, Fulcrum LNG, boasting “experience and expertise across all aspects of the oil and gas value chain, including low-carbon solutions.” The GoG subsequently issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) in January 2024 seeking private sector pitches for the design, financing, construction, and operation of gas infrastructure to support current and future upstream developments in Guyana.
Proposals were opened in February this year and by June, President Irfaan Ali announced the contract award to Fulcrum LNG. According to company records, seen by this publication, Bronchalo is also Secretary, Treasurer, Director and President of the company that has been contracted by the Government of Guyana (GoG). From all indications, he has only hired one employee.
Kaieteur News discovered that Ivor Ellul has been hired as Technical Director at Fulcrum LNG. He was appointed in July 2023 and previously worked at Schlumberger GeoQuest and CiSK Ventures, Ltd, among others. Ellul held senior positions, including Managing Director, Chairman, CEO and President among others in his career.
The limited experience of the company has raised serious questions about its capacity to fulfill its contracted obligations. Bronchalo’s company was selected as “the most responsive compliant bidder” among 16 others who tendered to develop the non-associated gas in the Stabroek Block, operated by Exxon.
A deeper dive into the company’s records also led Kaieteur News to the business address of Fulcrum LNG. The energy company operates from what appears to be a two-storey guest house located at 937 TAHOE Boulevard, Incline Village, Nevada, USA. Fulcrum LNG, according to company records, operates from Suite 130B. The CEO’s link to American oil super major ExxonMobil has sparked concerns among Guyanese, but the government has dismissed the possibility of a conflict of interest.
Jagdeo has said that evaluators were well aware of Bronchalo’s 19 years of service at Exxon. The VP even joked that this may have positioned his company above the bidders. “He had left Exxon but if anything, maybe the evaluators thought that he had the data on the gas. I don’t know if they did that, so he would have known, because Exxon does not want to go in that direction or did not want to go in that direction of monetising the gas in the early period, they said they needed the gas to be re-injected. We have a different view.”
He added, “On the face of it, I thought it was the best proposal that the evaluators came up with and that’s what we’re looking for, so there is nothing I found wrong with the evaluation of the bids and I don’t see anything that has come out in any major way that’s wrong, except for that oh, he worked at one time with Exxon.” When asked to comment on the fact that Fulcrum LNG has no known experience and has only been registered for one year now, the VP continued to defend the contract award, insisting that the Founder has years of experience in the field through his former employment with Exxon. “But he was there with Exxon a long time, but he has been a project developer for a long time,” Jagdeo pointed out.
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