Latest update March 18th, 2026 12:30 AM
Govt. and Exxon agree on expert to settle US$214M audit dispute – Minister Bharrat
(Kaieteur News) – Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat on Monday said the operator of the Stabroek Block, ExxonMobil and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) have agreed on a sole expert to settle the US$214 million dispute that arose from the first audit of the company’s expenses.
The minister, in an invited comment, said an article published by the Stabroek News on Sunday which claimed that the government is moving to initiate arbitration over the failure of the two parties to agree on a sole expert was inaccurate.
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat
As such, he maintained that the dispute will be settled through the sole expert to be appointed in accordance with the provisions of the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA).
The minister said, “The next step is sole expert agreed upon between the two parties- Exxon and GRA. We are at the stage of finalising this.”
Bharrat could not say how soon the sole expert could be appointed as he noted this was dependent on the two parties moving the process along.
An audit of the cost bank of the Stabroek Block was conducted for the years 1999 to 2017 by IHS-Markit, a British firm. The audit resulted in findings of US$214 million and a report was submitted to the government in March 2021.
Following the submission of that report, the flagged sum was reduced to a meager US$3 million based on submission of documentation that was absent during the course of the audit. After careful consideration the government did not accept the presented documents, and the sum was restored to US$214 million. As such, the disputed amount highlighted by the auditor will stand.
Consequently, the sole expert process has been invoked to settle the dispute between the parties. Should the sole expert determine that the costs were inaccurately added to the cost bank, Exxon will be required to credit the sum.
Article 26 of the Petroleum Agreement states that if the parties fail to agree on a sole expert within 30 days such expert shall be appointed by the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) in accordance with its rules for the appointment of experts and neutrals.
The contract states at Article 26.10 “…the parties shall cooperate fully in the expeditious conduct of such expert determination and provide the expert with access to all facilities, books, records, documents, information and personnel necessary to make a fully informed decision in an expeditious manner. The sole expert shall act as an expert and not as an arbitrator or mediator, and shall endeavour to provide an opinion on the dispute within thirty (30) days of his appointment, but no later than sixty (60) days after his appointment…”
While the first audit drags on, two other audits of the company still remain to be concluded as well. The second audit, for the period 2018 to 2020 was conducted by VHE consulting. The local audit team found that another US$65 million of the US$7.2 billion in expenses was incorrectly charged to Guyana.
The third audit of a whopping US$19.6 billion was completed by the same local consultant. Government received that report since May 2025, but the disputed costs flagged have not been revealed as the administration continues to hide the document.
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