No justification for delay in audit report for ExxonMobil US$7.3B - AFC

A final report for the review of ExxonMobil expenses to tune of US$7.3 billion, is expected next month, but the Alliance For Change (AFC) believes this delayed process is unjustifiable.

At a recent engagement withthepress,thePartywas asked to weigh in on the audit, which has reportedly beencompleted,pendingthe handover of a second report tothegovernment.

“There is no proper explanation because this should be our number one priority in terms of how we manage our oil resources,” ChairoftheParty,Catherine Hughesstated.

Meanwhile,leaderofthe political group, Khemraj Ramjattan warned that skulduggery may be brewing while the nation awaitsthepublicationofthe auditfindings.“Wefeelrule of thumb, when such delays happen sometimes it is m a c h i n a t i o n s a n d skulduggery brewing, and unless some proper information is given, we would want to believe that theentirecountryisgoingto speculate,” Ramjattan explained.

He added that the audit r e p o r t m a y f l a g ‘skulduggeries’ on the part oftheoilcompany,whileitis alsopossiblethattheprocess could have missed the ‘true values’ of declarations it reported. Ramjattan noted, “These big transnational companieslikeExxonandso on can do a lot of mischief and we have read about them,” arguing that the People’s Progressive Party administrationhasnowgone silentonthe‘nastyhabits’of thesecompanies.

Minister of Natural Resources,Vickram Bharrat had said government is expecting the final audit report in March, while responding to a question by Shadow Natural Resources Minister,DavidPatterson.

The Opposition Parliamentarian told the

House that in November 2022itwasreportedthatthe second audit would be completedbytheendoflast year To this end, he asked that the Minister say when exactly the final report will be ready and available and laidinParliament.

According to Minister Bharrat, “The final report is due in March of 2023.” He wentontoexplainthatthere may have been some misunderstanding regarding the expected completion date for the expenditure review

“I think from the inception when the contract wassignedtherewasabitof misunderstanding In the contractitsays120working days and I think there was a lotofmisconception…thatit would be 120 running days orcalendardays,butits120 working days,” the Minister explained.

He said that the local consortium would have benefitted from training opportunities in Oklahoma and Houston to aid in buildingcapacity

T h e M i n i s t e r acknowledged that while thereisa‘slightdelay’inthe completion of the review process, it is with a view of ensuring Guyanese can conduct our own future audits.

The contract for the Exxon audit was signed on May 24 last for VHE Consulting which is a registered partnership between Ramdihal & Haynes Inc, Eclisar

Financial, and Vitality Accounting & Consultancy Inc. The Local Consortium issupportedbyInternational firms- SGS and Martindale Consultants for the ‘Cost

Recovery Audit and

Validation of the Government of Guyana’s ProfitOil’Share’.

President Irfaan Ali in Novemberlastyeartoldthis newspaper that the process was estimated to wrap up beforetheendof2022,with the first report ready by December

The publication of this audit report is especially important,sincethenationis yet to see the completed audit report for Exxon’s US$460millionpre-contract costs. IHS Market, a British firm,wascontractedbackin 2019 to audit these costs incurredbytheoilcompany The bills are supposedly for e x p l o r a t i o n a n d administrative costs incurred prior to oil being discovered in 2015. It was alsoresponsibleforauditing a portion of costs incurred from2015to2017. Government said the reportisstillbeingfinalized, fouryearslater