Latest update September 17th, 2026 10:25 AM
Mystery over final report of ExxonM’s US$7.3 billion audit
…VP sends reporters to Vickram, Vickram sends reporters to Gossai, Gossai says check website, website shows old report
Kaieteur News- Six months after the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) gave clearance for the final report of ExxonMobil’s US$7.3B audit findings to be made public, the document remains a mystery.
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo
In November, the Commissioner General of the Revenue Authority, Godfrey Statia, informed this publication that the local consortium, VHE Consulting, has been instructed to release the finalised second audit for the company’s expenses, incurred between the period 2018 to 2020. At the time, the Commissioner General said, “The final audit will be released within the week. I have already given the go-ahead to VHE for them to do so.”
Subsequently, it was reported that Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat assured that the report would be made public the following week. This past week, Kaieteur News continued its efforts to access the report. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was asked about the document at his Thursday press conference, but he brushed off this responsibility. He said, “I keep saying that these audit things and stuff, you got to track it down with the Ministry…documents and stuff, I don’t deal with the small issues. I just deal with policy issues like the law, like the Local Content Act, the new PSA. I deal with the big framework type issues…so please track those down with them.”
When another reporter attempted to remind him of his earlier commitment to check on the release of the report, he instructed, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to cut you short, but the audit business, please go and call Vickram Bharrat or GRA. I can’t follow up on routine things.”
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat
Four weeks earlier, during his media engagement at Freedom House, the Vice President told this newspaper that the document should have been released already. Furthermore, he said, “I will check why they have not done the same.” Nevertheless, Kaieteur News followed the proverbial breadcrumbs as directed by the chief policymaker for the sector and enquired about the document with Minister Bharrat. The subject minister explained that he was engaged with other responsibilities at the time and requested that the Senior Petroleum Coordinator, Bobby Gossai, handle the enquiry.
To this end, this newspaper reached out to the Senior Petroleum Coordinator, who promptly responded. He told this publication that the document was available online, but independent checks by Kaieteur News proved futile. Gossai then shared a link to a copy of an audit report titled ‘VHE’s “Initial” Audit Report for the Stabroek Block Cost Recovery Audit – 2018 to 2020’. It is important to note that this report was published by the GoG since last year April. Moreover, as clearly stated in the title, that document is not the “final report” approved by the GRA for publication. This information was also brought to the attention of Gossai. Kaieteur News has been pursuing the final report of the audit, following the observation that several key expenses were not included in the initial report, which is presently online.
Senior Petroleum Coordinator, Bobby Gossai
When the report by VHE was compared with the audit conducted by IHS Markit for the period 1999-2017, it was found that the document provided comprehensive data on significant costs, such as those for supply vessels, drill rigs, SURF, helicopter services, and waste management, while these details were not included in the audit report by the local consortium. This raised concerns over the quality of the audit conducted, but the government made it clear that the report published was not the final document. Notably, the initial audit report was completed and handed over to government since September 2023.
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