Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton has underscored that the opposition does not have the power to hold ExxonMobil Guyana Limited accountable for the allege misuse of revenues generated from oil.
He said too, that holding Exxon accountable falls under the government’s purview, adding, “Unfortunately, the Vice President [Bharrat Jagdeo] and President [Irfaan Ali] seem not to want to do that.”
Norton was commenting on remarks made by Vice President Jagdeo in relation to Exxon’s expenses. During one of his March press conferences, Jagdeo was asked to provide an explanation to the nation of the massive expenses racked up by United States oil major, Exxon. This publication had asked the politician, who is charged with oversight of the petroleum sector, to provide an explanation on the $133 billion depreciation and amortization costs that were charged to Guyana’s oil revenue by Exxon. In response, Jagdeo said that Kaieteur News should seek clarity from Exxon.
Norton said: “We don’t need to meet out to Exxon. So we don’t have to call on Exxon to do anything this contract [2016 Production Sharing Agreement] gives certain rights duties and responsibilities to the government and those to Exxon.”
He criticised the government’s perceived negligence and incompetence, pledging continued pressure for accountability. The Opposition Leader stated, “If there is transparency that we are calling for, then you will have the information to further pressure the government rather than run in believing that we have somewhat locus standi based on the PSA, to hold the oil company accountable we have to hold the government accountable and the government has to hold the oil company accountable.”
Norton clarified the opposition’s role is pressuring the government for accountability, acknowledging their limitations in contractual matters. “When we become the government we will. But for now, we will keep calling on the government to do what they should,” he added.
Moreover, he noted, “So we will raise the issue, we will put pressure to the government, but as an opposition, we are obligated to deal one, through the parliamentary system, through the government system… we also have the right when we engage them to raise any issue which we have been doing but we must not fool ourselves we are not a party to the PSA.” To this end, Norton said that unfortunately it does not seem that President Irfaan Ali and Jagdeo want to hold Exxon accountable.
At another of his press conferences, Jagdeo had said that while the Ministry of Natural Resources is privy to what is being depreciated and amortized by Exxon, he will not share any details in that regard. Instead, he directed Kaieteur News to write their questions to Exxon. “Yes, the Ministry would know what is depreciated and stuff like that but I’m not gonna go through any financials here because I think Kaieteur has even a more rudimentary understanding of the financials than I do and two, that it can’t be done at a press conference. If you want to have that why don’t you submit in writing to Exxon, ask them, we have noted this- the following things,” Jagdeo said.
Moreover, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is still to release the reports of two audits on billions of US Dollars in expenses racked up By ExxonMobil from 1999 to 2020. So far two audits have been conducted to review ExxonMobil’s multibillion expenses for the lucrative Stabroek Block. The first was done by a British Firm IHS-Markit and was a review of some US$1.6 billion in costs incurred by Exxon during the period 1999 to 2017. The second was done by a local consortium, VHE, supported by an overseas company for some US$7.3 billion in expenses racked up by the Oil Company from 2018 to 2020. (Kaieteur News)…[+]