Despite new hires GRA Petroleum Unit still lacking 28 employees – AG report

Oct 12, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – The Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) Petroleum Revenue Department continues to face staffing shortages, while there is an increased need to strengthen Guyana’s regulatory capacity to manage ExxonMobil Guyana Limited’s (EMGL) six approved oil projects in the Stabroek Block, and a seventh project that awaits approval.

Since its establishment in 2019, when Guyana began oil production, the department has faced persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining personnel. Many staff members have left for higher-paying jobs with oil companies, even though GRA offers salaries that are double the standard public sector wage for employees in this department.

GRA’s Petroleum Revenue Department is currently operating with less than its full approved staff complement, according to the 2023 Auditor General (AG) Report.

As of September 2024, the department had only 39 officers in place, compared to the approved complement of 67. The report also highlighted a staffing shortfall in the Customs Petroleum Unit. Out of an approved staff complement of 32, the unit had 21 officers as of the same period.

The Petroleum Department includes the tax audit division, the cost recovery audit division and the petroleum revenue service.

In July 2023, GRA’s Commissioner General Godfrey Statia stated that the department had only 15 employees in 2019. By mid-2023, staffing increased to 31, but positions were still unfilled, particularly in key areas like the cost recovery audit section.

According to the latest update in the Auditor General’s report, the department’s staff has merely grown since 2023.

Recently, Kaieteur News reported that GRA’s Cost Recovery Unit has been strengthened with the addition of more auditors. This was revealed in the Government of Guyana’s (GoG) 2024 Mid-Year Report.

In providing an update on the legal, regulatory, and institutional framework relative to the oil and gas sector, it was noted that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continued to strengthen its monitoring of operations offshore.

Additionally, “The Guyana Revenue Authority also made progress by staffing key departments examining oil companies’ revenues and cost recovery statements as well as performing customs controls,” the report stated.

The GRA had complained that its trained auditors were being lost to the petroleum sector. The cost recovery unit plays a crucial role in examining the expenses incurred by oil companies to develop the resources offshore.

According to him, “we do not have the full complement of staff. We are working assiduously to get the full complement of staff. We have even pulled some staff from other Ministries, but as we know we have a paucity of skills in Guyana. We have even increased pay for persons in that capacity for them not to leave but what we have seen is that as we train staff, we lose staff.”

Statia said that the trained workers are being lured with higher salaries from the oil companies and their contractors. In fact, five persons who were recently trained at the time were stolen by the oil companies.

He said, “A couple of them were actually snapped up by CNOOC whereby their salaries is actually way more than mine and my officers and a couple by Exxon and we have even lost one to Schlumberger.”

Statia said he has been appealing to the employees’ patriotism, rather than force the workers to remain on the job, since he believes “you have to love your work and you have to love what you do”. Additionally, he said he believes that GRA employees are privy to the best working conditions and in some cases double salaries compared to the other public servants at the same level.

With the ramping up of offshore oil and gas activities, the GRA has seen an increased presence of petroleum operators and contractors, with the agency struggling to catch up.

In 2019, Statia said 121 petroleum companies were operating in the country; however, the figure increased to more than 350, with this number also still climbing.

Due to the shortage of employees, GRA was conducting “selective audits” with the tax body concentrating its efforts on clawing back the largest return. In addition to that, Statia said, “We have to use external accountants to do the cost recovery audit and we work along with them and we utilize their analysis and their findings to guide us in our examination and review of the accounts that would have been submitted by the oil and gas players.” 

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• department, GRA, oil, petroleum, regulatory

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